R

grasping an insect, he showed it to me once

this, he said, is better

though I like the offering well enough

but this, he said, is alive

and i received the message

we had this kind of game, you see

no, i suppose you don’t

it wasn’t a conversation really

more a transmission

a transformation

between us and forever

there upon a branch

between three worlds and more

i wonder if he saw them strike me

hard, from above

and knew he tried to warn me

but i was warm and furtive

and he was old, and long since

beautiful