The Library Rhinoceros

The library's calm, where pages turn slow

A rhinoceros tiptoes from row to row

No one looks up as it quietly paces

Past aisles of wisdom and silent faces

With skin like old leather, thick and serene

It blends with the books, oddly unseen

Horn bent like a question, unspoken, profound

Yet peace is the only deafening sound

Not a chair stirs, nor a glance it does meet

For the rhino moves gently on curious feet

A creature of strength, of power so grand

Yet here in the stillness, it chooses to stand

Among all the knowledge, cautiously dwells

A spot where whispers and wonderments swell

The world rushes by, but here in this place

The rhinoceros lingers, a symbol of grace

Anatomizing Mona Lisa

She sits

Ensconced in chiaroscuro

Liminal being enshrined

In clandestine tableau

Dwelling in ambrosial space

Where silence outspeaks oracles

Her visage, a simulacrum of stillness

Her eyes—merciless auguries—trace steps

Across a landscape where sands of time

Have ebbed and effluxed

Her rictus—

Dare one deem it a smile?

Sibylline curve of lips

Meaning coiled in questions

Neither yielding delight nor despair

A covenant, a susurrus

On the cusp of respiration

Drapery of her vestments

Descends like a pall over the cosmos

Each pleat a wrinkle in a fabric of enigmas

Her hands repose in quiescence

Akin to a river that has mastered

The alchemy of forbearance

Resting as the alabaster of ancients

Invoking the wisdom of aeons

To cradle the weight

Of unspoken truth

Beyond her—

Ah, the wilderness

Panorama of serpentine pathways

Craggy escarpments and placid waters

Yet it is she, not the realm

Who remains the zenith of every gaze

Locus of all mysteries

Paragon of paradox, an eternal sigil

Awakened

By the skilled

Strokes

Of Leonardo Da Vinci's brush

Zephyr's Sigh

Your laughter lingers, gossamer-thin

Like silver threads in twilight spun

Each word you speak a cadence soft

In dusk’s milieu, where we are one

Your touch is woven from the wind

A zephyr’s sigh in the open wild

You are the sea’s immortal hymn

So fierce and tender, undefiled

Within your eyes, the stars converge

A galaxy of quiet charms

Your breath, the pulse of ancient trees

Wrapped in nature’s hopeful arms

Take now my heart, for all it's worth

And bind it fast in love’s decree

For in your promise, I'll remain

And soar with you, forever free

Happy Valentine's Day!

~@~

The Reluctant Super Bowl Party Goer (Pantoum)

I’ve got my snacks, a mountain high

Is this like soccer? Maybe, no?

I don't know what's up, but I try

At least the wine and chips will flow

Is this like soccer? Maybe, no?

The crowd erupts, so I just shout

At least the wine and chips will flow

I’m really here for pigging out

The crowd erupts, so I just shout

The game is on, the screen is bright

I’m really here for pigging out

I cheer when the ball takes its flight

The game is on, the screen is bright

I’ve got my snacks, a mountain high

I cheer when the ball takes its flight

I don't know what's up, but I try

Groundhog Haiku

Punxsutawney Phil

Give us your groundhog forecast

Are spring days delayed?

~@~