a riddle
Warning hiss–
Twist’d tail stings.
Snapping back,
Bright blood brings.
a riddle
In silver prison so it stands,
Its only purpose to be seen;
It learns its master’s every mien
With soundless lips and weightless hands.
a riddle
Silent bird in a seamless cage,
No feathers on its wing–
Blind and breathless, the longer it stays
The sooner it will sing.
a riddle
It travels without feet
And touches without hands;
With neither wain nor fleet
It crosses sea and land.
It’s endlessly on time
And though its gaze can kill,
Its kiss is often kind
And so we seek it still.
a riddle hail
Burst of anger – jewels thrown down
Break and scatter beads of glass.
Trampled in the sodden ground,
They catch the light and cannot last.
a riddle
It takes with teeth but does not eat
And covets neither bread nor meat
But mounted like a trophy’s horns,
What once it bit, it now adorns.