Had Enough Yet?

Kastor's Monologue

We ruled together, side by side,

My brother and I until he died.

Petitioned I to father Zeus

To share my life with Polydeuce.

For what good immortality

Without my brother next to me?

I might as well live half as much

As live in pieces.

And so each night Selene would hold

The one of us under her arm

And leave him shining in the cold,

Aloof, immortal, free from harm.

And Helios would ferry one

To Sparta, where for just a day,

He would advise. And then the Hun

Swept Sparta from the map away.

It was my turn in heaven on

The day I saw my city gone,

And then when sunset came, and I

Was due to leave the hostile sky,

I stayed and watched my brother rise

To meet me, tears in both our eyes.

We hadn't met in many years

And now through showers of happy tears

We clasped each other, to commence

In shining jointly, and have since.

Half of forever, as it turns out,

* * *

Watching a bug

I was shocked when he let me touch him, when he stepped up

to the web between my fingers

as if boarding an airplane,

and became comfortable,

Perched on my index finger,

performing his delicate ablutions,

Over and over,

scrubbing his foreleg

with the rasp

on the back

of his foot.

He rode around with me for a while,

down the hall and back,

sitting in an arcane ritual of thoracic movements and

suddenly buzzed away.

I knew that he would leave eventually,

that whatever pilgrimage he is on

would lead him away from my hand.

But love is nice while it lasts.

* * *

On Vermeer's "Woman Holding a Balance"

She must be a Libra,

Not because she holds a scale,

But because it is empty.

She tilts her head reflectively,

Scrutinizing, comparing nothing

To nothing,

Ignoring the pale light of the sunrise slapping her face.

Having achieved perfect, useless inertia,

She seems pleased

* * *

Haik-U-Lantern

The portraits we carved

Of ourselves into pumpkins

rotting together.

* * *

Comfy Bed Haiku

The corner you made

With your elbow and the sheet.

The best gift ever.

* * *

Impulse

I stopped,

One foot on the next step,

And touched my left hand.

It felt too light; something was wrong,

And I worried reflexively that I had forgotten my ring,

Though I haven't been married for four years.

I have had a rash on that finger for some time now.

I can't seem to get rid of it--

Mostly because I keep scratching it raw--

And it's still crooked, scarred

from where I broke it.

My ring finger has had a rough life.

I wonder what she's doing now.