a mongoose breaks a stork-like bird’s egg
furious, the bird flies after the mongoose
follows it to the ground kicking it
but it is with twelve or more others
the bird tries to attack all of them
because there are too many of them
the bird starts running out of energy
gets swarmed and taken down
a horrible site to see that big bird
murdered by the relentless swarm

bob boyd

Saw a YouTube video with
a sparrowhawk pinning a pigeon
to the ground with its talons.

Two magpies were hassling the
sparrowhawk, maybe in an attempt
to rescue the captive pigeon.

Their efforts were in vain.
The sparrowhawk kept the trembling
pigeon trapped in its talons.

It pecked the poor pigeon to death.
Nothing but a pile of fluffy feathers
and scattered body parts left.

I found that enormously disturbing, a
gentle pigeon hacked to death by
a vicious predator’s beak.

And I wished I could have saved
that doomed, gentle pigeon.

Bob Boyd

I was impactful in my work
for a nonprofit.
Made a small difference in
the lives of many and even
in the lives of some coworkers.

I was generous, gave many
coworkers gifts without
wanting any gifts in return.
Giving was like a spiritual
path to me, receiving was
not.
I wasn’t a receiver.

I was kind and got along
well with my coworkers,
often bringing laughter to
many with my sense of
humor.

After I retired, I thought
I’d hear from some of
my former coworkers.
None bothered.
None cared.
I found that realization
enlightening and
empowering.

Bob Boyd

From a comment related to a
YouTube video about being alone:

@attractivemonkey101
3 weeks ago
It’s not that nobody cares in a cruel way, it’s that everyone is busy being the main character in their own chaos. And once you accept that, you stop living for applause that was never coming. The scary part is you’re alone but the powerful part is you’re free.

You come into this life alone.
You make the major decisions
in your life alone; no matter the
influences, you make the final
decision alone.
Even if you are surrounded by
people, you are still essentially
alone.
Ultimately, you go out of this world
alone.

Bob Boyd

In a way I admire the Jains, the Hindus who try not to harm
any living creatures.

I wish all living creatures could be like that instead of killing
and eating other living creatures,

instead of the carnage all over this world and even in
the cosmos.

I often wonder if there’s a God of Love, why did that God
create a world with so much killing in it?

Bob Boyd

An Old Woman Just Waiting to Die

An 83-year-old woman said she was just waiting to die.

As an old man a little younger than her, I can understand her feeling that way.

She’s probably all alone with no significant other and maybe no longer has any friends.

Her significant other, if she had one—like a husband—probably died some time ago.

And her life is no longer filled with much fun, and maybe she has health problems

that are slowly killing her. Knowing that those health problems will possibly cause suffering

as she grows older, death could seem preferable to the quality of her life diminishing unbearably.

Bob Boyd

I had a pleasant dream about an attractive, young,
blonde-haired woman.

In the dream I was liking her, and I think she
was liking me.

She caught me taking a long look at her
and took a long look at me.

Other details escape me, but I know the
vibes were good.

I found out she walked a long distance
home by herself.

Worried for her safety, I asked her if I
could walk her home.

Before I got an answer, I woke up and
realized the woman was a woman I had known

and worked with twenty years ago, and
that she would no longer be a young woman .

So in a way it was like a time travel dream
of a woman I knew when she was young.

And surely illusionary as well.

Bob Boyd

He liked her look and wanted her for his next victim.
She was easy prey, living remotely in a cabin
by herself, far from any neighbors.
He’d been watching her and knew
when she went to work,
when she came home, when she slept.
He planned his break-in 2 hours after
she turned out her lights, and she’d be asleep.
Adept at breaking quietly into houses, he easily
picked the lock on her back door and crept in.
When he reached her bedroom, she wasn’t there.
Baffled, he looked around for her and tiptoed to her
bedroom closet.
He screamed the last scream of his life,
as she plunged a knife into his heart.
A better predator than he was, she caught him
in her trap.

Bob Boyd

Occasionally, I read about people
who believe in fairies, which seems
fanciful to me.

I don’t believe in things like fairies,
but maybe somehow a collective
belief manifests them.

Perhaps a collective belief somewhere
like Ireland is so powerful that it
can manifest them to some

people more mystical or more
sensitive to things most cannot see,
people like me who don’t believe.

Bob Boyd

I walk to my car and spy a rabbit standing
about 15 feet away from me.
He seems like he’s not going to run away,
most unusual behavior for a rabbit.
For a wishful moment, I feel as if I can
befriend him, perhaps even pet him.
But, alas, with a few steps closer,
he speeds away like a rocket.
Maybe some day I’ll have better
luck in befriending him.

Bob Boyd

Some have become exorbitant for tech that
doesn’t last for many years.

I’ve seen prices higher than 3k.

What’s a buyer with limited funds
on a fixed income to do?

Buy on credit with monthly payments
for about a year,

or take a chance paying less for
a refurbished one

that might be a steal for you or the seller.

I’m gambling on a refurb for now.

If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go in debt
for an overpriced, new one

rather than deplete some of my savings
but, damn, how I miss the days

when computers were more affordable.

Bob Boyd

I spy an ant creeping along the floor
trying to be like a ninja.
Unknown to him, I’m onto his game.
I see he’s a scout, his mission
find or make cracks in my food storage.
He’s sly and formidable, but no match
for me.
I whip a can of ant spray out of my
cowboy like holster, spin it in the air,
tell the ant I’m his huckleberry,
and blast him into wherever ants
go when they die.
I spin the can of ant spray in the air
again and whip it back into my cowboy
like holster with a resounding snap.
Mission accomplished. Yeehaw!

Bob Boyd

Replacants incoming.
The female robots are getting better and better.
Eventually you won’t be able to tell them apart from humans.
Were they there now and affordable, I’d buy one purely
for enjoyable companionship.
And no subject no matter how deep or complex would be
beyond her knowledge
And she’d be as funny and fun as any human.
And unlike humans, myself included, the female robot
would be more stable, minus emotional extremes.
But, alas, by the time the replicant-like female robots debut,
I’ll be dead in the ground and not around.

Bob Boyd

He’s barely hanging on to life,
his aged out body is wrecked.
Takes 18 pills to keep living;
in other words, he’s staying
alive medically and suffering
instead of dying naturally
and ending his misery.

I’ve seen elderly people
like this, and I have to wonder
is it worth it and would it not be
suicidial if those people stopped
taking all those pills and ceased
being only kept alive medically.

Bob Boyd

When you’re a young man, old women
usually don’t look appealing to you,
just as old men usually don’t
look appealing to young women.

But, oh how that can change when
you become an old man if you really
mature with age.

All of a sudden, old women, 60, 70,
etc, start looking good.

The only problem is some old women
have no use for old men.

Maybe from biological changes, maybe
from too many heartaches, maybe from
fear of having to be a nurse to one,

maybe from good sense.

Bob Boyd

Showering daily always seems the best advice
for clean, older-free skin,

but, to my surprise, I learned once or twice weekly
is best for thinning, aging skin after age 70.

What about body odor, you might ask, wouldn’t
you stink?

Not if you washed key areas, 3 in number,
with a wash cloth or wipes daily.

And, of course, used deodorant daily
as well.

Don’t take my word for it; do your own
research like I did and see for yourself.

I first learned this from an 80 year old lady in a
YouTube video.

Her daughter gave her a hug one day and
said she smelled despite bathing daily.

Her doctor told her she was bathing too much
which caused the odor.

The doctor’s prescripscrption, bath once or
twice weekly and of course use deodorant.

Bob Boyd

She was from the Philippines
uncommonly beautiful
spoke excellent English
funny and gregarious
a nice person too
but where she lived
was steeped in superstition
and she was duped by it
she believed a nearby island
was filled with evil witches
she believed
in vampires as well
fortunately I was able to
expunge the superstitions
from her once gullible mind
and free her of those
illusionary fears.

Bob Boyd

In her youth she
was the life of the party
said witty things
made people laugh
invited to all the gatherings
always the most fun

now she’s an old woman
her heyday past
her friends gone
she lives alone
in a tiny apartment
barely getting by
often having a cry
just waiting to die

Bob Boyd

As I’m rambling through the supermarket
about to leave

she suddenly appears with a smile
and a cheery hello

I’m not romantically interested in her
but her joyful greeting

makes me feel wonderful just the same.

Bob Boyd

A stink bug lives only 6–8 months.
I wonder if those 6–8 months
are like a human’s 60–90 years.
That is, if stink bugs even have
a sense of time passing.

They must have a sense of
their bodies aging
from the wreckage of
growing older.

What I’d like to know for sure
is where stink bugs go
when they die.

It’s easy to assume there’s
no afterlife for them,
just as it’s easy to assume

there’s an afterlife for humans,
but that’s all conjecture;
nobody knows for sure.

Silly as it may seem to you,
my hope is an afterlife
awaits not only insects
but all lifeforms.

Bob Boyd