Ten Commandments I'd Give

Speak aloud to swallows
so they might learn
a different scale
and dignify their tune

Inhale deeply the dry air
so it might feel the dampness
of your lungs
and linger there

Plant your feet surely
on the sloping boulder
so it can know the firmness
it once had known

Listen closely to the dying man
and his four enclosing walls
for all remember much
and one is passing soon

Call out to trees
with their new names;
the old ones refer to ghosts
asleep in oaken tombs

Ring the bell once and wait
for the creaking stair—
her knees don't bend
quite as well now

Walk among legions
and see the beauty
through the smoke
in every upturned face

Open your eyes, thirsty man
to the thousand fountains
'round you now,
shrouded by dust

Drink deep of words
like the reveling fawn
when last restraint is gone
and the wine is scarlet sweet

Thrust your hand
into the chest cavity
and remove the still-
beating heart of the world

​

Uno
Dos

A little outside my wheelhouse. Tell me if it's trash, please!