Quiet

The air has remained all but unstirred tonight. I find that I miss the stimulation the wind brought to my mind. Now I sink back into dullness. It even smells bland outside. No beasts have visited the street, no night birds have broken the near-silence with their calls. There have been only the buzzing insects and the occasional vagrant breeze. I'd like to smell a skunk out there, or hear a dog barking at a passing raccoon. But nothing. I guess I'll go to sleep. Might as well, can't dance.

( Sunday Verse )

Decline

The sun a yellow flash behind the oak which has a face of withered brown leaves. No hint of clouds, but a dustiness to the air so that all the evening has seemed smudged. Two inexplicable fits of vertigo this afternoon, one while I was walking about and one while I was sitting and reading. I have no idea what brought them on. The localized headache behind my right eye has intensified with each of them, but that might be the result of no more than anxiety brought on by the unexpected dizziness. I'm more worried about the cat, who is still suffering some sort of urinary or bowel problem. She lets me hear a plaintive meow now and then, but mostly endures with feline stoicism what must be a very unpleasant state, scratching shallow holes in the rose bed and squatting over them with little or no result. Again, I have no idea. Nobody else around here is doing so well, either. The whole household is in decline. I guess it's just a matter of who falls apart first. I hope the building itself lasts long enough.