On Children

To help them sleep is a creative act:
You choose what seems a fitting setting: bed.
You plot a structure: prayers, then lullaby,
Then slowly slowing down the tune until

The Lark

by Timothy E. Bartel

Two unasked ornaments-we receive them
Christmas morning from our father:
A cardinal, crimson for my
Brother, and for me a lark:
Wire feet to perch on branches,