In her youth she was a mathematics
professor at an ivy league college.

Her coworkers and students
described her as incredibly brilliant

Now she’s a retired, elderly woman,
and her mind has become compromised.

Her brilliance is gone forever;
she’s lost her self awareness.

Mindless, she has become
like a zombie wandering

all over her neighborhood,
and soon she’ll be confined

to a nursing home oblivious
to everything in her ending world.

Bob Boyd

She was in my life for a few seasons
then on a whim she was gone.

Sometimes I wonder what happened
to her and if she’s still alive.

But in this ever changing life
that passes by so fast,

now I see her passing out of my life
was of little consequence

as were most of the events
of my life in retrospect.

Bob Boyd

The other night I had a dream where
I was wrestling with a formidable opponent.

Unlike the Biblical Jacob, I don’t think
I was wrestling with an angel.

My opponent looked strong and human
and not at all evil.

I thought he would easily beat me at wrestling,
as big and as muscular as he was.

But I was holding his hands and seemed
as strong as he was.

Just as I felt I could take him to the ground,
I woke up with my hands in the air,

as if they were still holding his and wrestling
with him.

I wanted a rematch in another dream last night,
but he didn’t show up.

Bob Boyd

If ghosts are real, imagine ones that are
interactive,

making the air cool around you, whispering
in your ear

appearing and disappearing in front of you,
moving things in a room.

To me, the worst would be seeing one
manifesting and looking directly at me.

Bob Boyd

In some cultures and in some beliefs,
whistling at night summons evil spirits.

I don’t believe in such nonsense, but
would I whistle at night in a dark forest?

No way, lol.

Bob Boyd

As far as humans becoming better
despite some notable improvements
in the 200,000 years we’ve been here
it seems we’ve not improved enough.

Evil flourishes, crime happens all
over the world, prisons are full.

If I had a direct line to a Creator,
I’d ask for an upgrade to improve
the human condition.

But, alas, the Creator never seems
to answer my prayers and petitions.
And I think despite the improvements,
our species will continue to have
evil flourishing, crime happening, and
prisons full of criminal humans.

I think it’s a chronic, unfixable condition
with some of us fated to be evil,
some of us fated to be criminals
in prisons all over the world.

Bob Boyd

She’s lived for 80 years.
Health problems now.
Nothing debilitating, nothing
compromising her living,
but she’s all alone without
a friend in this passing world.
She sees the end of her life is
rapidly approaching.
And she is yearning for it.
She steadfastly believes
the loneliness will vanish,
and she’ll find lasting happiness
and fulfillment with her God
in a forever world of eternal bliss.

Bob Boyd

Sometimes he misses the innocence of childhood

the less complicated times

when he made fewer mistakes

when his life was purer

before his teenage years

when life started getting more complicated

and he began shedded his childhood purity

and losing his childhood innocence

now he reflects on his mistakes

and wishes he could start from

the innocence of childhood again.

Bob Boyd

When I was a kid in high school, a classmate
told me I looked like a wolf.

He thought he was insulting me,
but I took it as an unintended compliment.

If reincarnation exists, I might have been
one in a former life

because I really like wolves, especially
white Arctic wolves.

If I’d been a wolf in a former life,
I probably would have been one of them.

Nobody else ever told me I looked like
a wolf,

so I guess that classmate was mistaken,
and I probably wasn’t a wolf in a former life.

And at least that classmate didn’t tell me
I looked like something worse,

like a gargoyle or Frankenstein.

Bob Boyd

If she leaves you because you’re too nice,
take heart; she’s doing you a favor.

You really don’t want to be with a woman
like that.

And if nice guys really finished last,
how come they all eventually get married?

Some nice guys, who may not really be
nice guys,

say screw it, I’m going to start treating
women like shit.

Why compromise yourself, and succumb
to such loathsome behavior?

Just keep trying, and you will find a woman
who will value you for the nice guy you are.

Bob Boyd