Each day offers a newness
that wasn’t there yesterday
for each day is special and precious.
Today it was the
beauty and bounty of autumn.
Messy and unkempt but
banquets for birds, bugs and bees.
My pull to tidy things up
flew away with the wind.
The untidy arrangements
that autumn brings to be left to
the natural world and homeowners.
“The bounty of nature is too little for the greedy person.”
~ Seneca the Younger, Stoic philosopher
Born: 4 BC; Died AD 65 (aged 67 - 68)
A wide open door
birds fill the trees
with chirps and song
a dog barks in the neighbourhood
a car shushes past
Fernando plays on the radio
backed by gentle strum of a lute
the aroma of barbecue drifts
trees wave in the wind
clouds ride high and thin ~
today was once a tomorrow.
“Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Learn from it… tomorrow is a new day.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
(1803 ~1882)
Options tested for
here and there,
why and why not,
for maybe and for sure
take up too much space
in a muddled head,
while ordinary tasks
get done. People say
‘you think too much’
and maybe so but I want
the goshawks and sparrows,
the robins and meadow larks
to know that their beauty is
part of life that lifts
‘too much thinking’ to the skies of
possibility for each tomorrow.
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
~ Lewis Carroll
 |
| Wascana Lake Bird Sanctuary Regina, Saskatchewan |
the language of birds
music that makes trees
sing in staccato chirps
“There is a peculiar virtue in the music of elusive birds.”
~ Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Furies of wind tossed
winter debris hither and yon
threatened to make kites
of dust covers
in yards and balconies
danced with branches
freed into airborne rain
new leaves opened
into the wet wildness
squirrels, cats and birds
abandoned sidewalks and trees
electric technologies snatched
into silent darkness
neighbours together-ed
for reassurance and laughter.
“Wind tries to show Tree how to run wild.
Tree: “I cannot leave this place.”
Wind: “Then let’s dance.”
~ Terri Guillemets, writer
This yellow tulip tries to outshine
robins, sparrows and finches
each year from the same bed
where west sun warms the wall.
Never mulched against winter
unless with autumn leaves
or dried grasses, the little bulb
rests through the long winter
reappears when the warmth returns.
“Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.”
~ French Proverb
From above and far away I heard them
Birds!
I’ve seldom heard birds sing
these birds didn’t disappoint.
Their twittering conversations filled
the warm spring afternoon,
rising above the sound of humanity
on foot, on bicycles,
orange mo-peds,
shining chrome and black motorcycles,
cars, vans and trucks washed
in the dirt of splashing into spring
Above it all
the birds took my heart to the sky.
“The trills and trickles of song from the birds in the big tree
above her seemed in perfect accord with her mood.”
~ L.M.Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 1915
 |
| Hummingbird nest on Hornby Island, B.C.' |
You don’t have to move quickly
You need only to rest and
continue to glide as one
No need to beg forgiveness
of memory’s guidelines
Reason only to respect today
for tomorrow has yet to arrive
Remembering that even birds in flight
come to rest in their nests of twigs and feathers.
“Meanwhile the world goes on.”
~ Mary Oliver, Wild Geese
**Inspired by a morning random thought and the poem Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver
A blustery cold day with snow
not sure it was to be rain or snow
Streets wet and glistening,
hovering grey clouds,
soggy piles of multicoloured leaves
lay exhausted against curbs and fences
In such a walk one never knows
what’s just around the corner.
Robins, wrens and sunshine behind
a faerie door! Little people live
and play inside this gnarled old tree
with green lawns, bees and wildflowers.
my journey to the library
became a happier mission,
my steps easier, my heart lighter,
just because of that faerie door.
“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.”
~ Hans Christian Anderson
