River

I walk beside the river
The place I lived before
Today I feel the water
It’s like opening a door

I see my lonely footsteps
As my dog just follows me
Attachment is a human thing
That may never let us be

I love the place I walk on
But I miss the home I knew
These feelings are so precious
They guide me in what to do

I hear the river flowing
As I smell the winter rye
And taste the living wind
Still I dream to touch the sky

I want to be a worthy man
Live courageously and bold
So now I walk beside my dog
And let us both grow old

Waves

Waves - Big, Broad, Bold and Broken
Coming from that invisible horizon
This boat is taking me into the storm
What disturbance is stirring the water?
Is it wind or emotional pain that seeks me?
Here, where I stand on the rich soil of life
I will calm the waves and give them peace
As they pass through me and over me
My soul is not blown by the wind
My soul is not bent by the waves
I resisted those forces before and was hurt
Now, I feel them pass where I stand
Worthy to greet tomorrow’s sunrise

Blessings

Remove your comforts
As if your clothing
Find your blessings
Far beyond your body
Where only souls wander
True blessings serve us
Beyond the place we walk
Shining bright forever
Lasting long as gold

Written In Water

Life has brought me here
To a place I never imagined
And it is pulling at my heart
Standing in this river of pain
Seeking the moment’s truth
And a doorway to freedom
The handle turns with love

Horses

Change is a horse we ride through life
Hands resting beside its reins of strife
Becoming the present place we stand
Or riding free through changing land
On a way to a place we mean to stay
On a horse that never dreams of hay
Join us when we celebrate each day
When change leaves us to go our way

Cold and Clear

Winter weather is fast asleep
Dreaming springtime colored sheep
Living paint spread thick on land
Under Spring’s invisible hand
That renders blue above gray sand

White birds stop before they freeze
They journeyed here with hopes to feed
And choose a mate with whom to breed
Then fledge their young to fly past trees
Come fall they'll fly to southern seas

Present

Waiting for my time
Not just any time
It avoids arriving
While I am striving
For the next rung
On a wooden ladder

The ladder points
At Heaven’s door
Now closed against
The light and more
Of its sacred secrets

Heaven waits
To celebrate me
When I arrive
Past sixty three
Reading ancient poetry

Letting go of my body
May be the hard part
Passing by the door
May be much easier
Than anything else
I have done before

I have felt heaven here
Shining brightly through
Every present moment
I have shared with you
In every instant I wake
There is no wish to wait

Disturbance

Black ducks fly high
Across the grey sky
In a ball not a V
The air is disturbed
By fast slicing flight
Just for the moment
They pass my sight
Then stillness returns
To a winter slumber
Under the grey sky
Those ducks flew by

Heartfelt

A heart can circle in life
Like an eagle that soars
Over good land and bad
Judgment colors our life
Circling high above land
Attaching us to life
By more than gravity
Floating in a silent breeze
Hot breath breathed by life
Freeing us from gravity
And judgment of this life

Chum Salmon

                                                                                          Sunshine Coast, BC

Chum Salmon
Found the waiting river
Beside our empty park
Near the green forest
By the farmhouse farm
There is where we like to go
To rest in nature's music
It never seems to change
Surprising us again
Chum Salmon Spawning
Splashing urgently
In the flowing river
Touching our souls
Shivering our life
Paired and unquestioning
They dig and spawn and die
Powerfully like the river flows
Their bodies given to life’s force
Digging in the gravel
As it needs to be done
Pairing and spawning
So brief but so right
And dying with honour
Giving Borrowed Bodies Back
To the Land they Love

Big leaf Maples

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I watched a gentle breeze begin
So autumn leaves could fall again
Green and yellow and red or brown
Big maple leaves are falling down
Some are catching on the trees
Some are rolling in the breeze
They are the largest leaves around
And make a crunch when they fall down
That is the loudest sound around
Way out here on the edge of town

Falling all the way to the ground
Leaves circle slowly rotating down
Some of them, crinkled and brown
Hang in cedars that live straight down
Some don't fly they plummet instead
Brown and stranded, dry and dead
Some stick inside my neighbor's hedge
Or land on top of grass instead
To move again when the breeze is seen
Or dance with feeling across the green

White Geese

 
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I hear white geese call as they fly
Fog in trees feels them wash by
White feathers lift warm bodies high
Into broad V's that sprawl the sky
Geese fly unblinking above fall rye

Black crows breathe grey mist to air
And hide white geese beyond my stare
Deep blue sky must still be there
Beyond damp fog and the silent air

While ancient stones may draw a sigh
Geese come and go over crops of rye
And fade to grey in the foggy sky

Habits

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Habits form over time
Rooting deep into ritual
Their bent corners stick
Into the mud of our life
Only the strongest wind
Can blow these habits
In to our creative realm
Where action has meaning
And life breathes new air

Fog

                                                                                 Google Image

Fog wanders in and then warms off
Moving almost like the ocean’s tide
Rolling silently and ever so steadily
It is found sleeping on fall mornings
And visits where garden spiders spin
Marking landscapes with silver webs
I thought that spiders built their nets
For the last flying insects of summer
Their webs hardly ever catch insects
During autumn’s damp and cool time
I wonder if spiders seek water instead
Just before their winter sleep arrives
Fog’s mist can pass through any hole
But not through perfectly made webs
These webs can catch the autumn mist
Better than they will hold an insect
During this misty time of the year
Little diamonds of perfect water
Distilled from autumns moist air
On silver strands of golden sun
Do spiders use this water of change
In warm cocoons of endless sleep
To cushion the change that captures
Winter spiders in a mortal web of time
Where stillness can hide the truth
Spun into the evolutionary cloth
Of the blind ever-seeking future
Until life finds its own passion
And caries the spider with it

Eternity

 
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The early morning light
Chased away the night
Cloud windows all blue
Let the sun shine through
To ride ripples on water
Distorting distant worlds
Trapping all of its colors
Reflected by our mind
Light and shadow laughing
Under the drag of breeze
Dividing a solid world
Into a changing mosaic
As colored leaves let go
Circling down to land
Some resting on the sand
Each leaf adds its beauty
Flying and landing
Each reminding me
Birth knows no meaning
As death folds its hand
And the present moment
Expands to fill the land

Morning Dew

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Dew loves the autumn
It wakes every morning
After the night passes
Beyond its purple clouds
And bright colored stars
Watching our moon sail
Silently across the sky
Wet dew waits for me
To rise breathing mist
Into the morning stillness
And leave a dark wet trail
Of my wandering footprints
Across the sleeping grass
Before disappearing forever
Into the warming day

Wind Blown Rain

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I did yard work yesterday while it was sunny
Then it rained early morning and the wind blew
Fall leaf colors sailed everywhere all around me
When the wind stopped the rain suddenly died
I noticed summer flowers still in the garden
And green summer leaves still on their trees
Summer was poking fall to see if it would wake
But the sun had not weakened the leaf stems yet
At least not enough for them to fall into autumn
Some landed on my car and some on the ground
So I blew them around until I couldn’t see them
They are probably snagged under garden bushes
That was the best I could do with the time I had

Autumn Fog

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Fog drapes obscure the morning
It folded in sometime last night
Dragging heavy without a breath
Over-top a silent star-less ocean
Calm and quiet entwined forever
Neither wants to raise the other
Both listen for autumn’s owner
Dressed up in warm rich colors
Now standing at our back door
Striking the season’s silent bell

Blackberry

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Today, I walked along the river
Beside the Blackberry bushes
I plucked from all last summer
Berries that held my eye then
Shrink as they are traded for fall
Or left in place to feed the insects
Garden spiders craft morning webs
Above the yellowing summer canes
Stringing their autumn webs tight
between the bare branches of trees

Cottonwood, Alder and Willows
Grow silent along the riverbank
Contemplating their past summer
Or pondering fall’s coming color
While fat spiders spin silver webs
Perfect love for the morning sun
Rising behind fog over Blue River
Where each berry ripened its life
And held its story within its taste

The morning birds sang free
As they ran beside the river
Stop looking so you can see
Stop seeking so you can feel
And the world opened itself

As I walked along the river
I saw everything that was
The water making the river
Was unique – small particles
  Never to be together again
  Laughed with its bright joy
Trusting the river forever
To turn back toward life
  As fall colors float away

Clear Water

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Winter water with waves
In constantly clear seas
Show fish and some birds
Swimming and flying
To places we can’t go
Except in our dreams
Or with heaps of help
A mask, snorkel and fins
And if the water’s cold
We need a special suit
To follow the fishes
In our awkward way
So it is better to stand
At the edge of the cliff
Looking down into water
To watch birds and fish
Looking for their food
In a clear winter sea
Than it is to chase them
To places we can’t feed

Talking

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I don’t talk to myself much anymore
Sometimes I whistle, sometimes I hum
But I hardly ever mutter words to myself
I don’t trust words alone with my memories
They just always seem to form silly questions
Most voices I could offer immediate answers to
But some questions I needed to think about first
My answers have proven themselves over time
As the simple lucky echoes of my own past life
Life lived early was bright with lasting surprise
Like arrow heads forgotten on a dry earth floor
Left by family and friends when I sought shelter
Now I burn in the present but still honor my past
Grateful smiles tie memories to those who I loved
The elders that valued me when I was still young

Animals

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Animals walk the land
Animals visit my dreams
They seem very different
Even if they look similar
Animals that walk on land
Are always so independent
Even when they notice me
They choose their own action
I never know their thoughts
When they visit my dreams
They are always intimate
Even when I fear them
They share their intentions
That I always must respect
Even in shallow dreams
I never know them well

Winds of Truth

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Let all these emotions
Be waves upon the sea
Raised by winds of truth
And sailed into my heart

Just as a bended tree
Is not the wind itself
I am not my emotions
That way I am set free

All of these directions
Are issued from a force
It lights my living path
A sacred breeze bends me

Welcome Guide

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Stay in my human heart
I waited such a long time
For you to live with me
Come knock on my door
At the home I stay today
Where countless busy rats
Are wound as harried cats
But wanting simple things

Smiling at the celebration
And choosing with full joy
For me and gifts for others
Those healed as one again
Bright spun threads of sun
Never fade while stretching
Any distance that is needed
During the day or the night
In our youth or our old-age
Through danger with safety

Each colored thread of life
Warms us past our feelings
And can live in every heart

Dusty Dry

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Dusty slow wind
Trigger finger tight
To noise behind ears
So dirt disappears
But sun does too

Over the hillside
Out of my sight
Is a summer party
I can hear it
But cannot see it

So I listen for sound
Do they know it is me
Making the noise
Raising this dust
Into the wind

Rock

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A rock knows not time
Bonded strong together
Forever as a mountain
Until a moment appears
When separation snaps
Sighing down a soil line
Dividing up a rock face
Underneath grass growing
Silent in sun and gravity
Pushing without knowing
Breaking the rock apart
Setting us all free again
To search for what we wanted
Forever for our soul

Chance

                                                                                Frank Chance   -   Google Image

Letting go - greeting risk
Still seeing far beyond
To free a flightless soul
To run or to stay today
Answering each heart
With certainty and love
Called forever real by all
Calmed by breeze of trust
And played by faceless hands
Beyond life's changing veil
What lives beyond these legs?
Past this velvet poker board

Summer Wind

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The wind is always such a big presence
Even though it isn’t always around us
When it is, it easily colors our world
With the broad brush of its personality
Sometimes it is dry, warm and inviting
Proving playful through its leafy rustle
As it turns the underside of each leaf up
On a cottonwood tree at the same time
  To change each living tree's summer dress
From a bluish-green to a yellowish-white
Threatening rain but promising mischief
When the same wind visits here in winter
It howls hollow through cottonwood trees
Bare branches brown and brittle over-head
Those winter winds often chase snow or rain
Through a dark and leafless winter landscape
Wind can tear off tarnished autumn leaves
Or rapidly chatter spring’s new leafy growth
And a busy wind can always find its place
Inside every season’s melody as it plays

Heron

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I wonder what you called me
When you saw me watching you
There, where you were wading
Hunting for the fish that swam
  Unsuspecting the grip of your bill

But I watch a heron every day
Fishing on the river by my work
Every day it wades to catch fish
But only when tides are just right
So the water is shallow and fish linger
That heron knows I am there
But it hardly matters by now
He is the only predator around
I am just a bystander, watching
As that heron hunts for its fish

But here in the wilderness I hide
As you fumble half-minded in your task
Surviving on the fish you catch
While you avoid entangling my shadow
As it brings a certain threat to you
But I want neither you nor your fish
As you draw down your large wings
And pull two scaly feet from the mud
Up into the blue shadow of your wings
And seek another place to fish

Alder Trees

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Alder trees found their place
At the margin of the forest
In front of the grand firs
Above the sword ferns
That circle the trunks
And hide round rocks
Rolled or lifted aside
From an old dirt trail
That follows the forest edge
Beyond the comfortable space
Where I learned that I belong

Tent Caterpillar

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Where did you come from?


Silky weaves high in tall trees
Caterpillars devour their platforms
So leafy skeletons of fallen leaves
Can litter dry ground around trees
That needed them for something

Carnage of awkwardly bent bugs
Caterpillar ends severed by birds
Strewn randomly across the path
All Shouting that life is not casual
Whether it flies, crawls or stands

Life’s beauty is not measured by time
It burns bright in the crawling insect
Just as surely as it does in flying birds
And in the young stand of Alder trees
I watch them all through my own window


And where will you go from here?

Time

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Time wills to chase us through life
Pushing here and then waiting there
Wishing and longing at the bottom
Forgiving and laughing at the top
Often drawing us away from others
I have dissolved into others before
But never forgot my efforts to please
Folding myself into mothers and brothers
Two melting pots of love and longing
Flickering butterflies of their own passions
Flashing here and there to their own flowers
Until I didn’t notice them any more
All that was left in bloom was me
And the rest didn’t matter anymore
Because my vessel has always carried
Inside of it, all the love I can ever feel

Sunset

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Sometimes life feels like the sun’s light
Bright warmth finding us from the outside
Yet it only shines on us for a short while
Before the night holds us in its arms again
Offering a view of the stars and the moon
Things left behind, unseen in the day's light
Sun's promise to return quenched by color
Drunk into soft darkness by a thirsty sea
As we watch satisfied by life’s sweetness
So alive in that exciting precious moment
That seems to sit still until we look away
Then retrieve it again and again and again
Until we remember the one who is beside us
Watching the same sun set in their own way
Feeling important to time and love and life
Before night stars whisper into our dreams

Stick

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Today has always been a cloudy, rainy day
It has been since I woke to disagreeing birds
Scolding an owl perched in a tree near their nest
I heard the crows first then finally the owl called
My day has been the same – silent predators sighted
Waiting for money or other things that I don't have
I did all that I could then brought myself to the river
Immediately, I thought I needed to see a fish jump
Over there in quiet water so I could be sure I saw it
I watched red bodies glisten above muddy water before
I have seen it but not today when I thought I needed to
That is nature’s way – to serve its own master - not me
But a smooth wet stick floated expertly on the river
It went right by me, turning and rolling in the current
I watched and lost myself - more than if a fish had jumped
That is nature’s way – offering unpredictable richness
In its own, ever-changing and always present moment

Spider Lake

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Water on the dark pond is still right now
And I do not look away when I see into it
I am detached - unafraid to see the bottom
The sunken trees, soft mud and rusty cables
That line the edge of the lake look dangerous
Lying there silently they tangle fearful minds
Awakening fear through our obscured blindness
Stealing swimmers breath by unforgiving touch
Hiding there forever under the rippling breeze
Of changing times, forever jealous of our life
As they listen to the bark of finning fish sing
And feel the empty tickle of leaches landing
While snails trail across slippery green algae
That slowly replaces a branch’s brown bark
As it falls away in slow-motion from a tree
Landing alone on the lake’s muddy bottom

Confusion

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I wish it wasn’t this way
Lost inside of life’s confusion
Never leaning the other way
Yes, I learned to be human
And that was no simple task
But I must have learned well
As my dog follows me closely
Never once have I left him behind
And I only feel love for his being
Sometimes more than for mine
Even when I don't understand him

Music

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Listening to Latin music
Falling asleep in sweet perfection
Waiting for the weather to change
Hearing the voice of springtime birds
And satisfied with summer clouds
That run ahead of their season
Unconcerned about their world below
But I think and dream of them now
Cotton batting high up in blue sky
Aware of me like a proud parent
One who walked loyally behind me
still visible and silent but high above
Still steering away rocks that threaten
And helping fight strangers that challenge

One Life Forever

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A handsome baby boy
Was born into the land
  Standing tall and strong
As he grew into a man
He kissed a pretty girl
And joined her gentle soul

They made a baby girl
Before he went to war
Shot among his friends
He died in soldier hands
He was carried to a plane
And taken to his land

Still before his wife
  Lay a tattered flag of strife
Grieving through the flag
She missed him with her heart
So buried him in ground
  Spring flowers all around

The pretty girl grew up
While daddy wasn’t there
She loved her mommy so
And shared her golden hair
She never knew her dad
His absence very sad

Change

                                                                                       change is good Yahoo
I so seldom look for change
And I never embrace darkness
But running away forced change
While reaching beyond my balance
Before the burn of longing left
Uncovering my biggest prizes
The ones that I remember best
The ones that I carried longest
Places that grew comfortable
As I watched dreams fade dim
Now I walk fear burning bright
Deep in my heart beside love
While we approach a future
That neither of us can know
But will wait for us forever
The precious moment of now

Clouds

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Come to the clouds with me
Do you remember them at all?
Walk with me among them
Then float with them yourself
We will know you are there
In your sky of authenticity
We will still see you there
When you cannot see yourself
And we will share that joy
Right across our lifetime sky
As it finds us for a moment
Or for days and then forever
Each and every one of us

Fullness

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Did you find it waiting?
Was it resting in plain view?
Or was it hidden in a shadow?
Did you take a risk to reach it?
Or does it still wait in silence?
Know it is the time to move on
When you cannot remember
Where you have come from
Or where you dream to go
In this mystery of your life
that belongs to you alone

Wishing

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 Watching for one wave
Waiting for one wife
Whistling for service
Why am I not special
When I am wanting

Lost

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Remembering the past
Dreaming of the future
Lost before the present
Waves run in the ocean

Climber

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Physical, emotional and spiritual
Three rungs of an endless ladder
Rungs that can never be climbed
In the usual way of ascending
You know, left foot above right foot
One over the other until the top
It seldom seems to work like that
We raise ourselves by longing alone
And although the rungs are separate
When our love is true and unlimited
The three planes touch and merge
Making all things simple and easy
And the knots that tie the strands
Can never be teased apart by man

Earthbound

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We live in a cloud’s shadow
Worshiping the sun above it
Waiting for a moment's proof
When sunlight fades a rain cloud
We have chosen for our home

Fine Weather

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Fine mist followed fine weather
The sun shone silently and steady and strong
Every day of the week till now
The mist has brought everything back to new
Returning it to a bright memory
All things renew and become wiser for time
As we mistakenly measure things
By the mysteries of lifespan and awareness
Diluting ourselves as a species
By differences in education, jobs or money
Whatever things make us bigger
Not just happy, not just healthy but bigger
Longer or taller than the others
Except for those we silently long to absorb
Before we measure ourselves again
Loosing the longing that brought us here

Sunshine

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The sun is seldom seen
Where it has always been
Floating across the sky
Each and every day
It rides or sails away
Into space it trails
As earth spins, wobbling
Fully waxing, partly waning
Muted behind soft veils
Tethered tight by light
That disappears at night
Forever changing seasons
Behind the onion skin of now
Following life's dream onward

Sun

 

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The sun is here to stay
For summer anyway
Then days get short
And sun sets low
As autumn comes
The grass will grow

The sun can’t see her shadow
It is drowned out by her light
And we'll never see a shadow
That lives in the dark of night

Ice

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Ice and water
In a glass half full
I watch and listen
Waiting for something
But nothing happens
I swirl the glass
Nothing still happens
So I add more ice
Raising the glass
To my breathing nose
Swirling steam
Out of the glass
So I add more water
To slippery ice and air

Gulls

                                                               Google Image

Seagulls soar high above the flapping sound of wind. They fly bright-white through sunlight wedged beneath dark clouds that are heavily shaded by taller cloud brothers enjoying the cleansing feel of sunlight in their wispy wet hair. The seagulls play in the strong wind like unstrung kites in a gusty breeze – they bounce and jive and soar off beyond ground-vision. What really catches my eye is the brightness of the seagull’s feathers beneath the slate colored clouds that seem to save their rain-drops for a storm. There aren’t that many gulls - 2 or 3 but they own that space in the sky. Their soaring must be more freeing to them than the scheduled food that is offered below at the residence for the aging. They often beg for food at that place, standing on the ridge of its roof but right now they are flying free from the earth’s pull, forever in this moment and needing nothing

Robin

                                                                                      Google Image

I have been sleeping all night long
In a wonderful comfortable bed
But now the robin wakes me
Knowing that the sun will rise
Robin opens herself to the miracle of song
I wonder what she hears when she sings
For me lying down with the window open
I hear God flowing through her willing body
And then back into the morning dew
Again and again and again she calls
The singular beauty of that morning song
Draws me out from this aging body
And fills me with wonder and joy
As I glimpse the infinite expanse of a world
That my mind doesn’t need to understand
I lie alone opening my heart to everything

Springtime

 

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This is not my place alone
But I love to walk here
With my dog Chester
We grow old together
And walk more slowly
Now than we did before
But I see more than before

Snakes in the sun
Gathering warmth
Plum trees in flower
Scenting a cool breeze
With the intoxicating
Richness of plump
Pink blossoms

Green grass now growing
Over an edge of path
Bluebells, daises
Dandelions flower
Around mud pressed
Springtime footprints
Left by dogs and owners

Pieris' red leaves
Are distinctive now
But they too, will change
With summers more serious
Mood of green growth
As black bees buzz
About my head

There simply is too much
To notice everything
But spring calls
Into every hollow
Urging everything on
And holding nothing back

Spring maestro
Lives in each heart
Of every living thing
Playing each of us
With beauty