In Pride of Place

Please take your seat

at the head of the table.

Please don’t make me beg.

Your meal has been prepared

with the utmost consideration.

No detail left unnoticed.

Somewhere beyond

the hawthorne hedges

an elk ponders his appearance

after glancing thoughtlessly

at the reflective surface

of a tranquil lake.

Old age gathering paralysis.

He lumbers about

with labored breath.

—Velle est posse.

And his eyes are like wine,

and his teeth are like milk.