Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love.
The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one eye [...]

“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked. When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.
Time proved the baby’s hearing [...]

The Antarctic wind’s icy fingers stroked the egg beneath a warm underbelly. Fine fractures appeared, and soon became cracks in the mottled egg’s shell. After struggling for a while, the chick pushed her dark grey head through the membrane, blinked a couple of times and croaked, “Mama?”

The downy underbelly moved, and raised itself, allowing a [...]

Two men sat in the evening
by the fireside’s cheery glow
Watching the ghost of shadows
that flickered too and fro
Each pulled on his pipe in silence
their minds were far away
On a mountain they had climbed together
to watch the close of the day
By William Johnson

The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty [...]