Zeus at Play

Zeus at Play

I can see my neighbor’s back porch

from the bed where I sit propped 

with a pillow under my laptop

waiting for the first line to come,

and on this gray day it arrives

just as Zeus bounds down those

back porch steps into spring grass

grown long enough to be mown.

No bearer of threats & thunderbolts,

this Zeus manifests as a bountiful 

big black poodle, delighted to play

in the wet grass when the sky's overcast,

or to thunder down on grasshoppers

when sunny days hatch them at last. 

This Zeus finds fortune on a long leash

and in the lively voices of school children

at recess in the next-door schoolyard,

in the reliable supply of kibble Mistress Angie 

provides, in his own energy at age eight, and

in the supple muscle he can still command.

This Zeus knows contentment comes

in the cloak of acceptance.  That’s

his daily lesson for me,

his watchful neighbor.

                                            —Sef, 5/6/2025