Dean Okamura

 

All ducks go to the same place

Ducks must go to the same place when they die 

They are such orderly creatures as ducklings 

Walking in a row behind mother duck 

Learning to waddle in safety 

Avoiding the vicious ducks and predators 

 

Soon they take flight 

Live independent lives 

Never forgetting the sound upbringing 

It's nature. Biological. We call it imprinting. 

 

One favorite book, Make Way for the Ducklings 

Tells the story of a duck family 

From an island in the Charles River (Boston) 

The ducklings embark on a grand adventure 

Swim to the shore 

Walk the city sidewalks 

Always in single file behind mother duck 

 

Kind folks say, "Ain't that nice!" 

"Look out for the automobiles!" 

Proud mother duck is not cautious 

So, a police officer escorts them 

Puts up a firm hand to stop traffic 

 

The duck family arrives at the Public Garden 

"Quack… Quack" duck lingo for 

"Thank you… so much" to the police officers 

Meanwhile, father duck waits on an 

Island of the Garden Pond 

 

Nice to have such a disciplined life 

Lucky to be a duck 

It's so natural 

For all ducks go to the same place

 

Lucky ducks

Love is a duck that flies. 

And where it lands is never sure. 

 

They try to put it in a cage. 

They try to tell you who to love. 

They try to mate you with their choice. 

 

They fail. 

 

Those controlling plans fail. 

 

Love begins in the heart. 

The spark. The beat. The pure delight. 

The pain. The loss. The lone-some dark. 

 

It's each and ever — there. 

It's each and ever — real. 

It's each and ever — lasting. 

 

Never failing. 

 

And the duck, she flies. 

She finds her way. 

Even if she's blind. 

Unlucky duck

Two female ducks discussed recent events about a certain drake, 

although drake refers to an honorable male duck, 

and this one was a real bastard, 

but the word bastard 

does not exist in duck parlance. 

 

"You don't know how lucky you are, honey. 

He never-never could make you happy. 

A beautiful duck like you… Don’t you see… 

You could have your pick of the colony." 

 

But those words did not comfort Scarlett. 

For her heart-pounding love, Rhett, 

had flown North and love 

perished, gone with the wind. 

 

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." 

 

Those words would haunt this proud duck 

for the rest of her living days. 

Every part of her demise was a product of her charm, 

cheating, lies, deceit, treachery, but most of all:     fear. 

 

Never trusting luck. She 

kept on manipulating constantly. 

Poor lonely Scarlett O’Duckie! 

You are so unlucky!