Animals

 A Different Breed

No man alive loves animals

more than he, 

naming most birds in flight, 

and he’s usually right.

Laughs to see

dogs at play, 

kittens with their toys,

all part of his search for 

new and different joys.

He has no fear of death, 

heard too many reports of

waiting friends, tunnels of light,

once donated blood to see how it felt,

then threw away the donut to taste hunger,

went home and baked bread for the smell,

finding all of it just right.

He has a wonder filled heart

and finds hope in the oddest places,

in the smile of a toothless bum.

the wagging tale of a mangy mutt.

He never met a vegetable he didn’t like,

especially the purple ones, but

best are the wines, tried them all,

zins, cabs, even innocent merlots,

not so much for the alcohol,

just to see how it goes.

He’s made music a challenge,

especially opera, serving

as background, foreground too,

in his discovery of life this turn,

He reads fact and fiction, 

has friends gay and straight, 

transgender as well,

to him they all rate.

He sometimes looks tired, 

at least to his wife,

but that’s how he’s seen

by our eyes, not his,

in his full, artful life.