The spring-loaded kitten with stick-thistle paws

and the fourteen-year-old cat with the stalled-motor purr.

The ponytailed runner in spandex and camelback

and the creaky jogger with Ace-bandaged knees.

The magnificent tree with the thirty-foot branchspan

and the tree pruned in an L-shape for telephone wires.

The whistling hotshot in pegged pants and Bluetooth

and the grave gentleman with his uniform and pushbroom.

The beauty in the yearbook, all eyes, teeth, and pearls

and the beauty in the knitted skullcap and hospital bed.

This world of dark amazement, never newborn,

never broken quite beyond renewal.