TEGAN, AGAIN
She’s such a little sweetheart, Tiggy is,
A cuddle-pup who sits beside my hip
In my recliner as I’m writing this
Inspiring me on my poetic trip.
But in another mode, she’ll be a hellion,
Cavorting with my mother-in-law’s two dogs
As if she were inciting a rebellion
And harrying squirrels as on our walks she shogs.
But at her sweetest, snuggled in our bed,
Pooped out from the adventures of her day,
Between both Kim’s and mine, she’ll lay her head
And with her fluttering paws keep ghouls at bay.
She’s Tegan, Tiggy, Tiglet—our sweet pooch
Who’s eager always for a hug and smooch.
*
THE INFINITE ABYSS
That space and time go on and on and on
When contemplated may well blow your mind;
Such dismal vastness when pondered upon
Will make you wonder if it’s all designed,
And if that’s so, then to what rational end,
And are we human beings its highest goal,
For if so, then we surely need to mend
Since in our ragged state we’re less than whole,
And holiness lies further off, a dream
We wistfully believe we might achieve
And of human religion its high theme,
The grandest hope to which our kind can cleave,
And we’re too smart now not to realize
That Homo sapiens sapiens must grow wise.
*
METAPHYSICAL POETS
Like Donne and Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan, I am
A Metaphysical in my own verse,
A formalist, as well, who gives a damn
About the lyric measures I disburse,
That they be musical in beat and rhyme
And that the meter and the meaning chime
While I consider mysteries and causes
Philosophers have pondered through the ages
But do so in the shapeliest of clauses
As sonorous ruminations fill my pages.
Though clever I may be, I realize
I still have far to go if I’d be wise.
*
LEGACY
Death’s now a specter, lurking somewhere near,
A factor of the cancer that resides
Within my depths, an ever-present fear
That, despite hopeful treatment, still abides.
Now, given this, what’s there that’s best to do?
Awakened to the brevity of life,
What hopes and goals are worthiest to pursue
Instead of passing time with idle trifles
Such as this . . . or is this something more
Important than a hobby, but an art,
A daily way of probing to my core
Amalgamating both my head and heart?
A record, at the least, I will have left
So those I leave may be the less bereft.
*
PERSPICACITY
To contemplate the marvel of our being
And of our cosmic Source beyond all seeing
Is an inevitable exercise
For Homo sapiens in growing wise,
Since cosmic wisdom we shall only see
From the perspective of Eternity.
*
OUT THERE
One day it dawns to wonder why we’re here,
And if by sciences we’ll figure out
Just how such complex creatures could appear
And if there’s elsewhere that such life could sprout,
Which reasonably, I think, must be the case,
Given the size of the known Universe,
And what’s beyond in that unfathomed space,
And what from its great womb it might disburse.
Although our potent sciences have yet
To verify the probability
That aliens with intellects like ours
Abound, we’ll find that out eventually.
Then when we’ve probed and penetrated space,
May what we find be a far kinder race.
*
OF SQUIRRELS AND DOGS
I realize, while writing in this chair,
With Tig tucked by my hip, that I forgot
To feed the squirrels now waiting there
For the handfuls of nuts that I allot
Them every morning, freely cast about
The lawn and scurried after eagerly
While others in the trees still bray and shout,
Which I’ll interpret now as thanking me.
I’ve learned it’s best to keep Tiggy inside
Throughout this feeding frenzy of the squirrels
And Gyp as well, two dogs they can’t abide,
As much as such a romp would please our girls.
And thus our early morning ritual goes,
Which now has yielded something to compose.
*
ON KEEPING THE METER
Don’t let a wayward syllable upset
The perfect harmony of your couplet
Which should proceed along with tripping ease
Through measures calculated by degrees,
But one misstep will awkwardly undermine
The otherwise perfection of your line:
Now if you have an ear for such precision,
You’ll note the word above that prompts derision.
*
ANGELS
Rekindling each day my sense of awe
And marvel at this vital, teeming Earth,
Despite the curse of Death’s all-ravening maw,
I praise and celebrate its wondrous worth
And reckon elsewhere in the Universe
What happened here has also happened there,
And similar planets similarly disburse
Organic molecules, and on them fare
Creatures like us who have in time evolved
In sensibility and intellect
And, better yet, have amiably resolved
Those issues that for us have often wrecked
Our prospects for achieving amity:
May they come here and teach us how to be.
*
WONDER
Rekindling each day my sense of awe
And marvel at this vital, teeming Earth,
Despite the curse of Death’s all-ravening maw,
I praise and celebrate its wondrous worth.
Although our Source remains a mystery,
Good orderly direction nonetheless
Invests the Cosmos with fecundity,
Perhaps an entity we can address
As God or Lord and thus personify:
Our Father in the vaporous heavens above,
The ruler of all realms beyond our sky,
Whose principal command is that we love.
We are the creatures of Creative Mind
And to produce like wonders are designed.
*
CUDDLE PUP
Again, our little cuddle-pup’s tucked in
Beside my hip, as I sit here to write,
Just pondering where my poem might begin
And whether aimed at insight or delight.
But now at hearing kitchen sounds
Suggesting that her breakfast’s being made,
She quickly lifts her agile self and bounds
Towards the spot where her food bowl is laid.
Though mundane as the subject of a verse,
This little episode, in after-years,
May be relived and serve then to disburse
More recollections of our bygone dears.
But wait! Stay here in this delightful Now,
Enjoying this, before I take my bow.
*
