Category: Nature

Masquerade as Spring

Image is my own taken at Houston Arboretum

Leaves half dead brown
half living green dappled
with the gold of hope,
sparkling, dangle from the tree
as if life clutched within
holds a secret 
on this wonderful warm winter
afternoon—
masquerading as a spring day--
joyous—these leaves
reflecting light like crystals
of a fancy chandelier--
yet the leaves,
fragile as they are,
will fall upon the forest floor
with tomorrow’s cold winds
which they cannot withstand
and my heart, like the leaves—
not green enough
to withstand
assaulting winter
but today, today—
chooses to clutch 
at the hope
in this masquerade of spring.

When the Familiar Dies

Image courtesy of TheSpruce.com
wk 238 familiar
https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/category/weekend-writing-prompt/

She walks to the end

of dark uncurling days

at the edge of the earth,

witnesses the new day

split open–

petals soft,

beautiful.

She’d give it to herself

could it be contained,

arranged within some vase,

held within her hands,

that cannot hold

such flowering strength.

She breathes in hope,

taking it deep into her lungs

where oxygen mingles

with blood and becomes one—

a seed took root in the moment

as all things familiar to her die.

 

Wait for Spring

Image courtesy of pixels.com
I wait for spring—

When days run long,

While hope emerges

Green from the earth

Warmed by a sun

Who knows the spell

A gentle warmth brings

With a smoothness of breath 

Taken in the calmness of colors

Basking in the light of a day

Nourished by winter’s ashes.

An Autumnal Baptism

Image is my own

Caught in the evening downpour,
I am washed clean of summer.
Summer’s red rock, red dirt dreams
Sluiced from me with this autumnal drenching.

Morning greets me with a cool hand
Of sunshine upon my brow.
Autumn whispers of a harvest
Under skies of bluest topaz.

A clear, clean, honest reaping
In days yet to be had.

Gems of Dawn and Sunset

Image is my own

 

If I could gather a handful of dawn and a handful of sunset,

I’d cut and polish each handful into gems

                       For you to keep,

To take out and wear as you would wish,

For there are no stones of value containing beauty enough

To give you but these that are not true stone—

 

Yes, a handful of sunset,

A handful of dawn—

Their beauty ever constant,

Yet ever changing—

Daily renewed—

The only things containing beauty enough

For you.

 

Freedom of Wings

Image is my own






Haunting seen
In darkening clouds
Of chrysalis dreams
Where wanting,
Where desiring,
Haunt seen
Cease existing--
In this capturing
No ring 
pierced through
Butterfly wings
Dripping still
From newly emerging
Dreams not tended.


	


	
	






	
	

		
Walking
	


	

		

Image courtesy of nationalgeographic.com










Walking through days---
There are too many left
And not enough 
To let me forget.

I walk into sunrises
Into sunsets--
There are not enough
Sunrises or sunsets left
In life to let me forget
And too many yet to live
To live in remembering.

I walk to gain forgetfulness.
There are not enough miles,
Not enough steps,
Not enough earth
To walk
To bring 
About forgetfulness.

I walk, seeking shelter
From thunderstorms
Yet they remind me.
I walk, seeking exhaustion
In the mountains
Yet they remind me.
I walk, seeking the healing of salt
From ocean waters
Yet they remind me.
All speaking
In whispers 
Of the earth’s remembrance.

It all reminds me—
The brilliant azure sky,
The verdant green of forests,
The primal roar of oceans,
The Rorschach shape of clouds,
The roil gray of storms—
It all reminds me,
Brings me back

Nothing allows me to forget.


	


	
	






	
	

		
nothing thwarted
	


	

		

Image courtesy of AlphaCoders










https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2021/08/07/weekend-writing-prompt-221-thwart/










We thwart not the sun or the moon,
the movement of planets, 
the coming of rains or drought.

We neither thwart 
our birth nor death.
We try to thwart what our hearts feel
And the desires with which it plagues us,
But our hearts feel and desire still.

Even our tears cannot be thwarted--
though they may not fall,
the tears fall unseen.


	


	
	






	
	

		
The Cloud and the Earth
	


	

		

image courtesy of pixy.org





Soaring, the stretched-out cloud 
drew herself together today,
whispering of her travels
of covering mountains
gently with the purity of her grace,
of caressing the mounds of low
lying prairie lands,
of the torrents of tears 
she shed when tortured
by the wind who kept
her too far, too often
from touching her love,
the earth.

Thus, she spoke 
of her eternal struggle
to touch her lover
as she wished—
melting into her 
completely lost
within her
and never being forced
by wind or sun to move 
away and along.


	


	
	






	
	

		
Flight
	


	

		

Image courtesy of istock.com









Against a sky of perfect blue


Containing strains of purest white,


My heart and soul,


A kite woven,


Takes flight.


Finally, after all the years,


Unafraid of the heights


Attained on these winds.


 


My hope no longer dwells within


A fortress built


Of scars or fears


That others would have me hear.