On an Afternoon Walk ~ Autumn Glow

 

autumn glows 

on bush and hedge,

while early afternoon sun 

shines on dark purple berries 

for an avian feast

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious 

as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.”

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,  

(1804 ~ 1864)

Into the Outside

To take out pencil and notebook, I must put my head down to the page. 

To grasp the songs of the birds, 

  to witness children at play, 

    to marvel at the calm elegance of pelicans ~ I must. 

I could stand still

 breathe in those scenes ~ 

   and I do. 

Marvelling at the vast nature

  that surrounds me lending 

    beauty to my day 

~ even if just for a moment. 

When I want to capture in words 

  each lovely scene,

   create story around them, 

I must put my head down 

  while my pencil scribes in my notebook.

“..take out lovely pencil and notebook to find a few touching, kissing words.”

~ Mary Oliver,  Poem: A Morning Walk

Author’s note: inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem: Poem: A Morning Walk

Messy and Unkempt

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)

Once a Tomorrow

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)

Bright Ideas

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

Music in the Trees

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

A Spring Tarantella

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

One Tough Tulip

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

Birds

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

Twigs and Feathers

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