LEAR’S FIVE NEVERS

Perhaps the first is a question
How to connect an impossible void
Into the universe he knows. Knew

The second, then, an answer
Insisting, insisting, insisting
Facts must be accepted

The third, then, a prayer?
With or without faith
Begging intervention

The fourth a stumble,
Crying for madness
Sans sense. Sans faith

The fifth, an echo
of the 6th, 60th, 600th
He’d have cried

If the button
Was not undone
A few lines later

–LH

FALL EQUINOX

(after NoExit’s “Bad Wolf”)

We look desperately for signs of balance
Because the illusion of perfection
Lies there

Imbalance, though, is where perfection hides
Waves and winds make every moment now
Never again

Today, a small tribe of children
defeated a big bad wolf puppet
With fairy dust

But the magic was in the kid
Who shouted “Hey birdy” from the swings
To a costumed actor
Between shows

And in the moment when the bird
Took a seat on the next swing
And the two creatures flew
Briefly
Perfectly
Together

–LH

SUNDOWN AT NOON
There are reasons the sun
does not go down
at noon

The morning has questions
that only the night
can answer

And night’s inadequate answers
are why we have
tomorrows
–LH