15-16 A freeloader has twin daughters
    named “Gimme” and “Gimme more.”

Four Insatiables

Three things are never satisfied,
    no, there are four that never say, “That’s enough, thank you!”—

        hell,
        a barren womb,
        a parched land,
        a forest fire.

* * *

17 An eye that disdains a father
    and despises a mother—
that eye will be plucked out by wild vultures
    and consumed by young eagles.

Four Mysteries

18-19 Three things amaze me,
    no, four things I’ll never understand—

        how an eagle flies so high in the sky,
        how a snake glides over a rock,
        how a ship navigates the ocean,
        why adolescents act the way they do.

* * *

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