Dark Target

In the arcade
Your gun quivering
As you decide when to shoot
Crouching with your finger on the trigger
Holding your breath for a moment
Waiting, sensing,
Point toward's the dark, distant
Bull's eye
All for a prize that you will throw away

A window full of night
With moonlight on the trees
And the birds hidden and silent

A window full of day
Birds scatter
Arcing to the left
And then to the right
Birds with a secret will
And knowledge

With the Help of Ninjas

There is always a way--
Over a wall
Around a locked door
Always a plan
Where light feet
Noiselessly tred
Scaling, sliding,
Swiveling on tiptoes
Wielding quick swords and
Spinning sharp stars
Into the void of night
There is an army of ninjas in the soul
Waiting to be summoned
Ready for the mission

A spare place without distractions
Up in the mountains
Where the snow monkeys
Bathe in thermal springs
A place to sit
In deep quiet
While the world whirls
In the wheel of change

Life recoils from death
From the first sign of decay
Repelled by the halting breath,
The shuffling gait, the stumbling way,
The tremulous fingers closing a door
The shaking limbs that would spill
The contents of a cup upon the floor
Life turns to life, feeding on the new
Devouring young blood and flesh
Drawn to glinting eyes and smiles
To all that is fresh
And marry with youth as with a wife
Merging over and over with budding life
Till life goes where it is not
And cannot recoil from what it forgot

The bird peeks
Through the bush
Quivering, watchful
In its leafy cocoon

The bird peers
Into your window
As if it is waiting
As if it knows

The light through the window
Of the coffee shop
The light cast on the table and chairs
The same light shining
On the building across the street
The light on the waitress clearing plates
All illuminated by the light
And its shaking energy
From the source of what is