darkest chocolate

my oatmeal

spurts and coughs
sputters and gasps
thickens and pops
as I stand stirring
adding cranberries

both arrived last night
in a bag
carried by a friend
who walking in from cold
wrapped me in warmest arms
stood over me
while I drank
raspberry flavoured
fizzy vitamins, then
swallowed even more
with mineraled water

then fed me
sushi and green tea
with darkest
bitter chocolate
for dessert

now - this morning,
I wonder
at starlings' flocks
cloaking my trees
with their fluttering blackness
watching as my favourite squirrel
empties, yet again, my
window bird feeder
eyeing me mischievously
as my shaking hands compose
body wrapped in layers of
clothing worn inside out

so, I refill - again -
and for my endeavour
I am bestowed with
a three hundred bird
flickering roundelay
and the green chastness
of my Lenten rose

still
I wonder
at kindness
at the beauty
of this world
and my small role
to play
in it
all