Spring ELEPHANTS

From these shadows I see a woman on a bicycle                          
walking three dogs in the sun while a black stray                        
follows not-too-closely behind, peering suspiciously        
at everything.  An escaped breeze reeking of coffee      
has hi-jacked neighbor's voices through the kitchen                        
window.  Young joggers and old walkers share polite                        
nods of curiosity toward my pen but don't speak.         
                         
Flakes of lead-based paint dig beneath the dirt                          
under these limbs. Monkey grass adorns the necks                          
of Mimosas in full bloom.  Over my head, a robin                          
and squirrel argue indelibly for trapeze rites to a                          
power line, her red breasted-shrill winning out.                        
Here holds all that is Southern, and all that is not.                          
                         
There's a tree root protruding from the ground                        
about seven feet away from its body. Its arthritic                        
wrist twists short of rotting timber surrounding                        
the cemetery of a once-vibrant flower bed. Like an                          
ELEPHANT'S fingered-trunk, its spidery outreach                          
brushes the dust as if clearing a relative's grave.                          
                         
That's what ELEPHANTS do with this intricate                        
appendage, except that one over there, over there          
in the corner of the room beside the stereo, the one            
that keeps inadvertently bumping the turntable            
interrupting the dance music. The one you pointed me            
in the direction of, but won't speak about first.                            
                         
Right now, there are 500 billion galaxies being            
held steady by the Universe despite what is said            
or done here on Earth; we are but two stars in            
the space between all realms that will return soon.          
There's a reason an ELEPHANT'S trunk is akin          
to the human tongue; a fact many don't know.                         
                         
~