Bearer of Humility

The feeling, unmistakable
I have her in my grasp,
and adrenaline courses through me
An avalanche of nerves, quivering,
but my thoughts are lucid as day
My vision does not waver
Her eyes lidless,
marbles of cracked granite
bisected with windows, pupils
Invitations, to the last abyss
Her mouth agape, but only slightly
The needles barely visible
concealed in sheaths of flesh
Their existence, violence incarnate
But the intention for it
is not there, not for me, not now
My energy is subdued
I am holding death,
between my thumb and forefinger
wrapped 'round my forearm
But she means no harm,
lest I move too quickly
She might become a writhing mass
Muscle, sinuous, hellbent,
desperately aiming to embed
a single fang, or both,
in the soft flesh of her captor
Should it happen,
the fault would be mine
I ignored her first defense
Her warning, the rattle,
the triangular head and keels
I needed to be closer,
to touch the bearer of humility
confident that she would know
my ultimate intention
And for now, she seems humbled too
Gently restrained by a curious giant,
but then released
I stand near her
shaking from the experience
and she watches me cautiously
as she yields and coils back
My eyes burn from not blinking,
but I am humbled
so is she

Transitions

'People grow and change,
and not always together,'
she remarked quietly
as if recalling
something consequential
I remember that moment
Made the associations
to myself, in my life
Haven't forgotten it
I've always embraced
the transitions
Never made sense
to wear myself out
trying to stay
because that changes you
just as much
That's tough on us
as a species,
as individuals
and on relationships
Especially when
we are so young
It's difficult to bear
watching one you love
become something else
and it happens so often
I suppose it's been so
twice for me, and I
wouldn't return
I change as always
because I'm insatiable
I see a void in me
and aim to fill it
My curse is to embrace,
to improve, to adapt
and I don't think
I'll ever quit

Purpose

Well, you see,
even the smallest
The unnoticed kingdoms
The bacteria,
the protists,
the fungi,
they keep it clean
and produce
With purpose
to begin with
The plants do their part
Photosynthesize
and provide
While the animals
complete the coil
Nature's perfect cycle
Except, of course,
for that one animal
That peculiar species
The bulge in the line
The link weakens
and with a push
it ruptures
The circle is undone
by a single species
Relative newcomers
with new thoughts, and
destructive tendencies
No real purpose,
like the others,
but to break the coil
And some say
they will be the death
of a planet
But I don't believe
Not for a moment
It will persist
after extinguishing them
by its inherent patience
and quiet persistence

Last night...

...this stood out to me in a movie I was watchin':

"Point is, what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid look exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soul mate, and wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soul-mate flower and makes love to it, thus pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their lovemaking. I mean, how could they know that because of their little dance the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live - how the only barometer you have is your heart. How, when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way."

Souls

I've always had this idea
Can never seem to dismiss
Maybe your soul
is the same as mine
Every soul is worth the same,
whether it belong
to a mouse, or a man
Makes no difference
how your brain functions
Souls are the same
That's how
it's always been

Can't Stop Thinking

She didn't know
what she wanted
He knew that,
but something about her,
that subtle luminosity
Something in her skin
No one could place it
but they all knew
it was there
He couldn't be swayed
to save himself
She held an advantage
woven into the fabric
of her skin
She knew that,
and he tempted her
just enough
to let her hurt him
again and again
Not knowing
what she wanted
I tried to tell him
He'd always lose
and he couldn't
hope to hurt her back
And that never worked
Not for anyone
He didn't care
Couldn't help himself
She was all he thought
and he couldn't stop

This morning...

"I'm sorry about the confusion," I muttered. "Oh, no, it's okay. I just couldn't hear you. You're quiet." I didn't know how to respond to that. I thought for a bit, searching for my voice, but nothing came to my lips and I withdrew without a word - only a nervous nod. Later, our eyes met, despite our attempts to avoid that contact, and she cast an uneasy smile at me. For a moment I wondered if I intimidated her as much as she intimidated me. If I thought that were the case, I'd take some small comfort in knowing we shared the same ground, but I concluded that wasn't it. I knew it would be hard to look at her after that.