Nibble

The mouse within the pantry
     nibbles at the crumbs,
While the rat within the cellar
     nibbles at the thumbs.

Siblings, in the Eucharist
     we nibble at the host:
Nibbling bread and nibbling flesh--
      mouse and rat we both.

Cat and Frog and Toad

Toad sat on a lilypad
     and Frog upon a toadstool,
And they stared each other down
     across forest, over pool.

Said Frog upon the toadstool,
     "I'd ask that you would leave.
My throat is parched and I've a mind
     for croaking through the eve."

"Brother Frog," said Brother Toad,
     "I wish I could comply,
But water's wet. As I am not,
     and I've a mind for staying dry."

And thus while they did bicker such,
     Cat crept ever close:
"You've kept me up for long enough.
     Now I've a mind to eat you both."

Frog leapt off the toadstool,
     and quickly he was fetched--
While Toad jumped off the lilypad,
     panicked, drowned in water's depth.

Now Cat, contented, rested,
     calm at water's edge.
Happily, with stomach full,
     she nestled in the sedge.

I Am a Man of Unclean Lips

Lord, strike me on one cheek and
turn me the other into wine, lips
bloodied red as if kissing embers.