By Idris Mears

in the garden today 

i was working for a robin 

digging up his lunch of worms 

a busy version of the lazing hippopotamus 

whose body heat draws insects for his attendant bird 

but usually i am just working  

in my wasteful human way 

for the rats 

and in the long run  

for the worms 

– so much for my industry and utility 

but i pray i found  

in the stillness and joy 

of my work-honed reflection 

a moment of sanity 

between the madness of losing meaning 

and the madness of imposing it