The Reclused

We do not violate
the solitude cherished
as a milch cow
on a painted pasture.

We usurp with kindness
any benevolence dispensed
on us as gratitude.
What are we for

you might well ask,
since in previous times
we reclused to the woods,
garnering ourselves

to buffet so many affairs
as insults to our intelligence.
It is not our distaste
for people

but games played
and displayed
to compete and outsmart
what the Great God

dispensed as common sense.

Photo by John Hallissey