Last Wish

A dove lies immobile
as a monk in meditation,
near the intersection
of a circle and 2-lane
road as a Honda Civic
zips away with speed
to match a cheetah's.

Catching her breath,
she struggles hard
to move a fraction
of a meter to reach
her moaning chicks
nested in a nearby pine.

Their frantic shrieks,
pleading with traffic
to clear a path
for their mother,
are intolerable.

Such is the agony that
I pray to the Almighty--
when nirvana summons me
all my kids are in town
and I pass away in my sleep.