Fool
by Ted L Glines

Put me in my place
lost without a trace
you think you know my face
but you don't know me
not the me that's really me
you only know what you can see
you think my act is really kewl
with my prat-fall and my drool
as I play the silly fool

A clown may laugh and prance
and you get caught up in her dance
never knowing the romance
of her sordid guilty years
or her nightmares and fears
a crying heart no one hears
and the only hope she knows
is her makeup and her shows
and the glee which she bestows
for all the comedie and cheers
masque the pathos of her years
as laughter drowns in her own tears
her happy pink is lonely blue
her laughing smile is makeup too
her every act is done on cue
and the only fool is you

Author's Notes: If  we really knew her, we would hug  her and love her. We would ease  her pain and make her laugh again. But we don't  know her. She  is everywhere. "She is always smiling. She always makes me laugh.  She never thinks anything bad." That's the one. Look deeper, for  she is worth  knowing.

Forever Clouds
by Ted L Glines

Only a minute ago
I could see forever
and now muffling fog
fills my mind.
Only a brief minute
--- what ---
history and destiny were one
universe unfolding perfectly
now I cannot see the cliff
before my feet.
For one brief  instant
the movie of life
froze on one clear frame
still-life of clear truth
epiphany
--- happened ---
the movie played on
brownian motion
forgetfulness
and I cannot
get that moment back.
Only in a child's mind
is truth pristine
really good or really bad
no grayness blending
--- to ---
fog what is clear
pure and so
un-sophisticated
unaffected by
doctrines or policies
which lend masques to
wrongness
which hide the crystal clarity
of simple
--- truth ---

Food
by Ted L Glines

Crouched in grasses  - sun is sinking
food will come for evening drinking
silent - still - panting - thinking,
resting in the heat of sun.

Sun goes down and sky is red
food is coming - scent is read
lust for blood engulfs my head,
muscles tense for coming run.

Here they come by twos and threes
down to water - on their knees
no scent of me is on the breeze,
my hunt is only now begun.

There's one limping - limping still
he can't run with speed or skill
he'll be my food - my easy kill,
mark him well for he's the one.

Rising - tensing for the fray
alarmed - the herd stampedes away
thundering hooves - all but my prey,
my hunger peaks - this hunt is won.

Explode from cover - extending claws
closing fast on lightning paws
pounce - his throat between my jaws,
hold him down til kicking's done.

Feasting now in cool of night
flesh tastes rich and blood is bright
hyenas hanging back in fright,
I'll hunt again with newborn sun.

Author's Notes: The  food chain cycle never ends, and  it never will end until every  one of the upline predators has died and the only  thing left alive  is something similar to the one-celled primal ancestor of us  all.  If you are reading this, you are the most deadly predator to ever  stalk  this planet. Good hunting to you and ... try not to be dinner.