RECIPROCAL ALTRUISM

He came into my basement,
Poured his heart out onto my lap,
And asked me if I would hold it for a while.
Didn’t he consider that
I might
Want to keep it there?
That my hands might grow too comfortable with the tears?
Didn’t he realize that,
When he walked into my basement,
And poured his heart onto my lap, that
I might want him to hold mine too?

FEBRUARY THUNDERSTORM

This wind doesn’t cry;
It chimes against the metal tubes
Hung from our windows.
This rain doesn’t fall;
It carefully caresses the trees and
Slides down our windows.
And I am forever left inside,
Safe from the February rain,
Safe, heaven forbid I dance again
Alongside the raindrops and amidst the clouds but
No. It is for my own good that I
I watch from behind the window panes.
And yet, I can just barely taste the thunderstorm.

CLOUD BURST

Spread eagle on the summer grass
Swaying in the passing wind,
I lie in wait of a summer storm
As clouds form on the horizon
As if pinned: they cannot move so instead they swell.
I await the moment when they burst,
The animals as well thirst for the rain and
Yet again the wind blows over me
Beneath the willow tree where I lay
Spread eagle on the summer grass
Pinned, waiting for the cloud burst.