::11:09:08::

::: The Ostrich :::

I saw you today
squat under a tree
whose branch you had obviously been tugging,
back to your audience, always.
I was with my son & family.
They didn’t find you as interesting as I did,
but they laughed.
I wonder why?
They are simple-minded,
their laughs don’t mean much,
they barely carry their own weight,
unlike your legs
although I couldn’t see them.
You had them folded under you
probably the left over the right.
I’m sure you had a cup of tea nearby,
the green kind, stems floating,
stories playing in your cup.
You were still the same mess,
hair stubble stabbing the sky.
You kept looking at me,
snaking your neck
like your love for “S’s.”
Did you notice me?

There was something pleasant in your predicament.
How your nobility wasn’t visible, but felt
like it was your egg that you were
nesting, incubating calmly
in thoughts only you owned,
even though it was 85 outside and
you didn’t have to,
you persisted.
I could see you.

I was smoothing your ruffed feathers
with my eyes, delicately.
They were warmly faded, subtle memories
minimalist like black O’s and
Ryman white on whites.
I thought of our walks and
how I held your hand always
without touching you.
I could see you.

I extended my nose to breathe you,
but couldn’t.
Only the fragrance of memories,
rotund and homely prevailed.
You always kept the smells for yourself
pocketed like sacked tears.
I remember how they sagged.
I didn’t need to see them,
smell them or
ingest them like you did.
I could hear them when you walked,
silently swelling and crashing,
you dancing on their shoreline
when no one was present
free from the fear that buries
your head in their sand.
I could see you,
could you see me?

Written by: ~ Jeremiah D. Reeves