JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

On our window ledge

a pair of doves have built a nest

of twigs and now

take turns to sit on creamy eggs

waiting for a biblical commandment

to repeat its timeless cycle

 

unconcerned of cats that lurk below

wailing their lusty arias

 

as we in our curtained bedrooms

go through the motions

we mistakenly call love

 

Multiply…

ten million sperms for every egg

ten thousand fishlets for a whale’s mouth

a hundred million planets whirling

pulsar, nova, star dust, red shift

 

One of the dove’s eggs hasn’t hatched

a fledgling falls helpless from a bough

two of our children, fully grown

have emigrated, they send emails

photos of grandchildren

one is saving orangutans in Borneo

 

And now it’s spring again

the yard is a riot of wild flowers

and from the window ledge

a choir of cooing comes

 

Perhaps there’s life on other planets

waiting for a distant sun to incubate its eggs