Walker

Life in here moves with a walker

It is green and blue

Outside

And inside

I watch it

Getting greener

And bluer

The occasional bird

The occasional squirrel

The bushes need

To be trimmed

So much life

Outside

So much life

Inside

As well

Even though life

In here moves

With a walker

Still life

In here

As well.

The cardinal

Sometimes there is power in a passing remark.

The cardinal alights

On the pine

Next to the front window

Lit by the morning sun

Then flies away.

It was a short visit

But he was perfectly framed

By the middle window pane

As if

As if

He’d planned it

Or as if

Someone had planned it.

The next day

A matter-of-fact woman tells me,

In passing,

Apropos of nothing,

As if an afterthought,

You know

Some people think

A cardinal appearing

Is someone who has died

And has come

To say “Hi.”

Then I remembered

The cardinal

From the day before.