I received your air hugs\u2014
\nkept them safe inside my bags,
\nthen portioned each soft gift in two:
\nsome became the balm I rub
\naround my eyes, into my skin;
\nsome I steeped as perfume\u2019s hymn\u2014
\na fragrant pleasure, breathed-in fine,
\nto make me smell like peace and pine.<\/p>\n
I heard your message, saw the sea
\nin every word you sent to me.
\nIts meaning swam through troubled mind\u2014
\nthat race is kind, that hearts unbind.
\nYou said, \u201cDon\u2019t take it personally,\u201d
\nyet still, as one who knows, you see
\na person\u2019s touch can bruise or bless.
\nSo rest assured\u2014I\u2019ll not confess
\nto fear, though I am not insured
\nto dance with wolves, or be lured
\nwhere lions pace and cheetahs race.
\nI\u2019ll not be foolish, not debase
\nmy worth to cuddle bear or curl
\na crib of snakes\u2014not in this world.<\/p>\n
Heck, I won\u2019t kiss a golden dart
\nto turn to royalty. That art
\nis lost on me. Your slander party?
\nIf insults are your music, hardy\u2014
\nthat\u2019s not my cup of tea. I\u2019m no pig.
\nI know pigs play, and love the gig
\nof mud and mire with their own kind.
\nThey tried to lure me\u2014I declined.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the bridge: not all games suit
\nthe ones who wear a different suit.
\nPigs may not know that not the same
\nare those who flinch at mud-pond fame.
\nIn animal world\u2014and we belong\u2014
\nrespect is law, not right or wrong.
\nNo man made barriers, no need to sever;
\nwe guide ourselves, and know forever
\nthat unity and harmony
\nare what the wild already see.<\/p>\n
The lion keeps its pride of grace,
\nthe crow its murder, time and place.
\nA flamboyance of flamingos stands,
\na tower of giraffes on distant lands.
\nParliament of owls, skulk of fox,
\nmob of kangaroos on rocky rocks,
\nand smack of jellyfish\u2014they flow
\nwithout the lust to strike a blow.
\nThey do not kill for fun, you know.
\nEven the vulture, dressed in black,
\nis often more than just attack\u2014
\nmisunderstood, but still a thread
\nin kindness\u2019 cloth, from foot to head.<\/p>\n
I am not self righteous in my pride\u2014
\nas human, woman, or voice inside.
\nBut from the depth where kindness starts,
\nI speak this truth with all my hearts:
\nI see you\u2014you who have my back.
\nAnd I see them whose eyes are black.
\nThank you for the kindness shown,
\nand thank them for the contrast grown.
\nI may not easily detect
\nwhich one is Judas\u2014which reflects
\na silver coin for my farewell.
\nBut you shine brighter; I can tell.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the end, the bag I pack\u2014
\nthe air hugs folded, no turning back.
\nI know the time, I know the place
\nto unpack life\u2019s enduring grace.
\nKindness and smiles? They never run out.
\nThey are the strong, the steady shout\u2014
\nthe earthy, steady, Soddy sound
\nthat lifts me up on solid ground.
\nAnd from that ground, I rise and sing:
\nyour air hugs turned to everything.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I received your air hugs\u2014 kept them safe inside my bags, then portioned each soft gift in two: some became the balm I rub around my eyes, into my skin; some I steeped as perfume\u2019s hymn\u2014 a fragrant pleasure, breathed-in fine, to make me smell like peace and pine. I heard your message, saw the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-3926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","tag-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3928,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions\/3928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alasca-black.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}