Flying

                                                                Google Image

I care so very deeply
But there’s nothing I can do
Except for hoping silently
And stemming old stale thoughts
As I follow feelings
That are threaded through my past
While that child leaps to fly
Across a multicolored sky
That still waits for me to try

Winter Wind

                                                                         Google Image

I always notice the wind
And today it brushes hard
Against all surfaces it finds
No birds are flying
They are hiding in the forest
Frightened by wind music
It overshadows their song

Needled trees are blushing
The light is bleached harsh
Brightened by cold wind
The roads glistens gleams
Every surface glints stark
The ocean bay shimmers
3 Oystercatchers float
Below unchecked wind

Chimes ring tin to wind
Cedars pass windy secrets
Down a wide forest path
Wind’s round cheeked breath
Is felt everywhere but is heard
Best by stars stamped in tin
That live beside our front door

Shiny tubes shaded behind our house
Praise wind in pure twinkling voices
Warning that the wind seeks all paths
Hollow doors slam in imagined anger
Stopping wind but frightening the dog
Who heads into the forest to hide
From the wind with the birds

I am fine with the wind
It pushes trees away from the house
But searches for me inside every room
While green grass grows through moss
Under the wind above spring’s flowers
Sleeping safely inside dreams
For a future that waits for them

A Tree

                                                     National Geographic photograph
A tree is part of me
As I watch how it grows
From the earth into the sky
From its roots to its leaves
It struggles at anything else
So it comforts me to know
That the tree is a part of me
Like the sun and the moon
We breathe in the same air
So differently and wisely
As we share this world
We love each other
Knowing only
We are not alone

Fireworks

                                                                                                Google Images
I walked today a little way
Along the river and over the hill
Beside my dog through morning fog
We had lost his ball sometime last fall
But never mind it has been some time
Since the two of us even walked at all

Life seemed good from where I stood
But that’s all changed since I was named
The one in charge of the fireworks barge
My days seem wrong while nights are long
And if lights burn bright the wires look right
But we will never know til the evening show

If the rain should come it may soak the gun
That sets a blaze to the fireworks craze
And now I rent and my money is spent
On room and board of my own accord
But now I must go to start the show
With a light in hand to match demand

They all sit back as I climb the rack
And flip the switch so the sky is lit
The people oooh and the people aaah
Explosions rip as they point their mits
The winter’s cold and the winter’s dark
But I lit it up with a single spark

Borrowed

                                                                                           Google image
We borrow from earth
For the bodies we make
To follow our dreams
Before they escape

Flowers it seems
Can laugh at our corpse
They are made from the land
By dreams of course

Flowers and Dreams
Both watered in thirst
Laughter and seeds
Who cares what came first

We got what we need
So everyone’s pleased
Feeding our bodies
Sweet fruit from tall trees

Truths

                                                                                  Haida Gwaii, 2001
You followed a winding path beside me
And came across my heart and felt my love
You had no trouble being that close to me
I felt many hearts in those moments too
When love left safe places and knew what to do
Its rich generous gifts would set us all free
So light from our souls could penetrate seas
Shining deep beneath leaves left behind tea
In breathing each season's vulnerability
Change never fears to reflect autumn trees
But invites us to bathe in a world's salted sea
To find any truths for ourselves there may be

Sleep

I had a really good sleep
Doesn’t mean a damn thing
When up against the truth
Truth that never lies to us
  Truth that can surprise us

Sometimes
I had a really good sleep
Only means I didn’t get lost
Wandering far below my self
Where life floats in darkness
  And seeks only rich, fullness
That dwells near the center
Of our deepest longings

Finding true comfort within
A landscape where we dream
Lets a world smile through us
Gentle, fast, unthinking, wise
Measured by courageous love

The Ocean

                                                                           Google Image
The ocean lives in its own place
Even in moments we are away
Its waves seek every rough edge
Casting itself wet against them all
Never waiting or looking outside
It rakes bold against its beaches
Always completing its tidal work
Under our feet beneath its waves
Forming beauty in ridges of sand
The power of ocean’s harmony
Bold between the tides remains
Sculpted complete with certainty
Just as we, vibrating in the world
Leave our own footprint of beauty

Found

                                                                              Sproat lake in Winter
Lost inside a moment
Chester shook water off
Wet and still dripping
In a place we walked
So many times before
But it seems different
Maybe it is the snow
Or the shrouding mist
Hiding forgotten silences
That broken twigs own
Every time we move
It invites us to stay awhile
But I am looking and listen
For anything familiar
Outside of this forest
Where I walk alone
Together with my dog
He never fears getting lost
This place is too small for that
And his rules are the same
Everywhere from here to there
But I know better than that
Things are always changing
As I am always drawn away
From the true course I follow

Mist

                                                                                       Google Image
Mist can open a window
In search of distant worlds
For truth beyond this place
Or at least a reference point
To let us know and believe
That where we are standing
Is familiar and solid ground
Visited many times before
But if it escapes a context
And steals us from the now
It can strand us far beyond
Our edge of understanding

Ordinary

                                                                                              Google Image
Well, today is here
I never waited for it but it is here
Yesterday is gone forever
And tomorrow is just a dream
That may never happen
But now is here – now
And this poem is partly written
Even though I have no idea
Where it is going or
What will ever happen to it
The form it is taking fascinates me
And this moment is so ordinary
That it is wonderful and exciting
I won’t use the word ‘unimportant’ any more

Humming Bird

                                                        Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna), EOS photograph

I never knew you lived here all through Winter
Standing on the highest branch of that low tree
Every day except for three north cold splinters
That decided to stay and play in a winter freeze
Sensing my presence you fluttered your wings to see
Black bark was bursting with buds under your feet
Springing forth with red then green dogwood leaves
Before cream colored flowers can laugh above the path

The leaves and flowers play invisible magicians
As the Sun strains closer and stays longer to watch
For just as long as leaves last and bees are fooled
Hummingbird, your spring arrives surrounding you
The size of a ping pong ball and the weight of a nickel
But your seed of life is as grand as any seal in any sea
Other birds follow the changing river to find some place
A place that I can never remember but I will always know


So, like you, somehow I knew spring would come
Now, it is vibrating to end the cold nights
As in life, it is drawn around me like a robe
Comfortable and familiar but not quite perfect
And although I don’t know how to make it better
It is far beyond anything I could ever imagine
It works magic, offering everything and twice more
So, in some way like you, Anna, I must fly too