Grace Notes

And can it be
That you really love me?

Can this be true
Even if I don't love you?

Though I may hide
Do you still want inside?

Will you converse
Even when my words are terse?

And can it be
That you really do love me?

Natural Selection

A turtle rises
From the rippled lake
And creeps slowly
On the muddy bank
Crawling and scratching
With dinosaur toes
Wallowing in muck
Crawling and scratching
By its right to reproduce
To bring tiny turtles
Into cruel existence
As his father
And his father's father did
Crawling and scratching
Up this same bank--
A line of turtles
Back beyond memory
To the first turtle born
In this motherland of muck
In this universe of spring