By Julie

White Whale

The sun rises ‘bove the waterline
While morning starts with subtle motions
A wise white whale rises to the surface
Two knowing eyes fixed to his ocean
They slide so swift over the city
The whale looks down upon his land
Dolphins who were once cavorting
Are sleeping, blind to morning’s grand

The wind rolls wide upon the water
A caress upon the distant shore
A million tiny lives are thriving
Upon the tidepools’ rough floors
And through the fog, he sees a pair
Two seals- a mother and baby dear
And watching them as well as he
Scattered lobsters, who think them plenty queer

Within the cold hug of the sea
A million hearts live, warm as him
Each one asleep and nestled far
From shallow scrape of ocean’s rim
Adoze are urchins, stars, and many
Tiny things often looked over
His eyes peer through the screen of water-
A million corals and sea clovers

Each particle a world inside
Together made one careful life
So fragile and yet knit so strong
So seldom any mean of strife
The whale watches kingdom below
Each tiny person bound to sleep
And thinks about his own in many
Lives within the ocean’s deep

He basks in life’s dear wistful silence
Contemplating all that he surveys
While the world spins, so life thick around him
He sets back off into his waves

The air smells like rain
Like the day has worn it
And it setting it back upon a dresser
To be worn again tomorrow
Colors streaking across the land of the heavens
Painting across the sky
Casting the day’s final gift of shadows
Shading eyelashes upon my cheeks
The waters across the way reflecting
The pigments saved until the end
Collected, concentrated
When the day closes

The roof shingles rough under the weight of my hands
Heat dusting across my face
The last glimmers of light dancing
Across my hair, fading its color
As it crosses into the world of night
My eyes beginning to pencil in
To the tones that end the day
The roof an angled surface under me
Legs stretched, arms propping me up
The darkened eyes upon my face focused only on the sunset
The ending of the light of our world

The night rimming the horizon
A scattering of stars beginning to peek out
Their faces bright
Peeking into the air ready to be renewed
For the next day
An innocent touch of pink like fingerprints
Smudged through the shadowed clouds
Touches of deep orange, the picture of life
Almost artificial in their perfection
The last stars of the light
Shining their bright, inspirational hope upon the land
An invisible caress on my brow
As the sunset rages on above me
Subduing into night
The feather of life
The sunset

Bashful
Cautiously, even though he
Knows me well
He approaches in a slow gallop
The sound of his hocks
Padded and slightly a faded yellow
Muffled by the carpet
The iSnooze singing
Classical music
Over the vague whistle
From the white-pink button of his nose

Two ears flopping
Like hot furry shields lengthwise, protecting
The sides of his head
Limp tail like a cotton ball
Sewn to the back of him, shadowing close behind
Dark eyes like
Ebony Marbles
Focusing pools of dark chocolate on me
He creeps closer.

A moment like a soap bubble
Of delicate simplicity
Fragile and precious as it floats through the air
He places his front paws on me
Silk against the roughness of my blue jeans
Wiggling, breakable claws kneading
He stares up at me, his nose working at the air
And replaces his paws upon the floor
He hops gracefully back across the carpet
Resting his head on his paws
He pushes himself into the floor
And the bubble rises
Into the heavens