Penguins: An Anniversary Card

It was, of course, the picture that first attracted me; how

one moves away and one stands still. 

Which of us is which, I wonder?

That each day we struggle between the forces of life, green

and bearing up through the snow towards the sun,

and death, a quietude when all energy is expended

and space is the only sound;

That we all stagger between one of those gates

and the other, that is well known.

Some are moving forward and some are standing still. 

Some are waiting silently and some

are anxious to rush to the same conclusion.

To wait with patience upon the other, unmoving or declining,

 is love. 

So is being drawn forward by the hand (or wing)

across the landscape spangled with falling stars.

August 5, 2021