The houses at the beach fail to materialize
Nor the mountains loom around the curve
In western Washington
They drive in the rain and exercise caution
Or perhaps merely warn others
Of the danger they represent

They’ve already transitioned into an afterlife
Hopeful of transmigration
Into a happier form if itself ephemeral
In which the thrill of excitement persists
Through time suspicious medium
And outside time
Freed from concern
To seek the return to nothingness
To renounce officious propriety

White belly and ocher breast
Bird on a wire
And taking flight the blue cape and wings
And next the mate arrives

This game is too complicated
The counterintuitive sequence of switches
The rules that vary from situation to situation
Apparently infinitely
They didn’t know that causing damage was wrong
Self-serving contention but sincere
Risking harm and a fate
That sometimes succumbs to temptation