The Hydra
The Hydra stretches through the skies
Hidden by her starry guise;
Every time the slithery beast
Lost a head there was increase;
Two took the place of the missing one.
Heracles, however, discovered the key,
Clever as clever as he could be.
He buried the one immortal head
Under a boulder, down to her shoulder,
Effectively making her dead.
Though water snakes have no shoulders as such
No one complained, not even the Dutch!
Monoceros
Monoceros Monoceros,
A creature with one horn,
Who stands outside a garden gate,
Lost and quite forlorn.
We know him as the Unicorn
Surrounded by a fence,
Led there by a chaste young maid;
How could he be so dense?
Finally he’s a symbol though
Of love both chaste and true,
Shining down on each of us
From God’s most heavenly view.
Sophie: Soul Companion
Sophie sits on my window sill,
Leafy green and perfectly still;
Quiet as an Air Force glider,
Or a truly well-fed spider.
Though she’s root-bound in her pot,
It doesn’t phase her, not a lot.
We give her water so she’ll thrive
Like bees on honey in their hive.
As she sends up new green shoots,
She stays fresh with her pot-bound roots;
As she grows some leaves turn yellow,
A sign that all is well and mellow.
Sophie is my sole companion.
For good or ill she’s always fresh:
Lovely, like a great green Banyan,*
Or a dryad bound in flesh.
* “The Banyan represents growth, strength, and self-awareness through reflection. meditation, and a quieting of one's mind. It is said that Buddha found enlightenment after sitting under the banyan tree for 7 days.” [What more could a room-bound person ask for?]
