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she is happy, healthy, at home
she has everything she could ever want

still

she finds herself craving something more
though she cannot give it a name

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/amorpheous/nutmeg.gif[/imgleft]





A big seed, a little pod.
What secrets do you hide?

Taking it between his teeth,
He cracks it open wide.

Turns out that wrinkly egg
Has even more wrinkles inside!

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the baby turtles
are weak in their first moments
shells soft and squishy
he protects them
and pities them

then he thinks
perhaps they are not so different
he is soft and squishy
so he joins them
and follows them

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/corn/humblebumblebee.gif[/imgleft]


On her nose, a little bee
A tiny yellow
Regal fellow
The doe says pardon me

Surely, gracious bumblebee
With fur so bold
And crown of gold
You must be royalty

Nay, the bug does disagree
I am no queen
I’ve never been
I am but humbly, me

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/blue/runawaywithme.gif[/imgleft]



“Run away with me,” the little bird says. “Your family would never approve of our love. Elope with me, and we will be happy, together at last.”

She smiles, tears in her eyes. She doesn’t want to make this decision, either way she is leaving something behind. Her decision will change her life forever, and it is not one she wants to make quickly, but she must.

Looking at her little bird, with love in their eyes, she is weak. If she leaves her love behind, she will never know how their life could be. That thought is too much for her to bear.

She goes.

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stoke the fire and dust the den and wash the furs and feed the pets and tend the garden and cook the food and watch the kids and sing the songs and trim the trees and clean the pond and braid the hair and weave the baskets and pick the berries and dry the meats and tan the hides and clear the grass and

wait

you let the fire die

you fool

stoke the cinders then

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He presents the council with an offering.

A plate of food.
A hearty meal.

They taste it.
They applaud.

Well done, little buck.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/amorpheous/snowflake.gif[/imgleft]

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He sees many curious things

Stars flickering like big lightning bugs
Rainbows dancing in the cold night sky

A river of pitch littered with flowers
Glowing when he dips a hoof in

Animals with many unusual heads
Kissing their strange babies to sleep

And he is filled with fear
Because his gut tells him

He will never witness it again

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/maxx/lonelyheart.gif[/imgleft]


His heart aches.
It aches for love.
The love of a parent.
A friend.
A partner.

Any love.

But it isn’t meant to be.

So he takes it out.
He frees himself from the pain.
Leaving a hole where it once ached.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/sullivan/dunegrass.gif[/imgleft]



between the blades and the sand
she is laying

playing hide-and-seek with her friends
she is quiet

the grass in the wind tickles her sides
she laughs
and she is found