other animals

I
I too long for a bright future
	Where our old wounds might melt into
	Soft warm light. Though I know so few
With the gentle-fierce faith of your

Heart and hand. So, despite the cut,
	Would the gloom pass faster when he
	Fell unripe, unred, though heavy
With sweetness almost tasted but

Lost? Or as he drifted, to see
	Your grey friend blindly gobble down
	Rotten fruit from a rotten clown,
Praise a pain that keeps him unfree,

With no thought or will for escape?
	His garden, once green, now full
	Of wild slugs and brown waste. So pull
The bandage off, put on your cape

And fly through the storm. Say then, please, 
	Who held on to their brave ideal
	Or with dull eyes were ground to meal?
I wait but hear only the breeze.

II
We pose and hope those we don’t know
	Will learn and sing our name. One day
	Hordes of them may happily pay
For our fancy cookies. Let’s go

Another way. Past this small verse
	The world burns, of course, and the greed
	For new cargo, which never freed
Anyone, lingers like a curse

We won’t shake. So, would it be best
	To play the bee and drone away
	The painful with the pleasant day,
And wait for some sweet someday rest?

III
A fly tries its luck on the wide
	Patio door and buzzing does
	It again. Unconcerned with was
It feels a freedom just outside

Of reach and reaches. When our friend
	Hits the glass, open up and let
	It pass outside. Why get upset
That the trip together must end?

Maybe I’m reaching too far now,
	Smudging with soiled fingers what I
	Know little about, but this fly,
Unstoppable, teaches me how

To move about the house and sing
	A little song; maybe enough
	To justify this cloudy fluff
And shine a somewhat tarnished thing.