Dedication to anything is
as a bird in flight
muscles and mind
working in harmony
to get to the nest,
to forage for wants and needs
flying through
rain clouds,
open air,
against hostile winds.
At the end of the day
to rest and sleep
readying for
the next day’s flight.
“Our self-acknowledgement has to be bigger than our fear.”
~ Rod Stryker, author
The space between sleep and busy
~ where the stuff of life lies
plays to the rhythm of the phone,
the doorbell’s ring, children’s voices
asking why a million times,
aromas of bubbling sauces and stews
without the stuff of life
there would be an incessant hum
or a silence with no end ~ even ones thoughts could grow silent.
So I’ll bake bread;
listen to birds chirping happily,
take in the aroma of my kitchen or
from a restaurant down the street;
hear the traffic of sidewalks and lanes
~ when it’s time to sleep, I’ll dream.
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
~ Stephen King
I seldom speak with young men on the street, but this young man ~ he was young, and not yet a man ~ maybe 5 or 6 years old. But very serious. I had noticed this slightly stocky fellow looking in my direction. It was just a couple of days ago and temperatures had soared. The lineup at the ice cream window was long. I was on my way to a hair appointment and he and his mom were at the end of the line. He stood with his little arms folded, his head tilted a little on one side. He glanced up at his mom and whispered - ‘what’s that she’s got?’ nodding towards my cane. I seldom use it, but this day between the heat and an ache-y back, it was my balancing rod. His mom looked at me, maybe hoping I hadn’t heard his whisper. But I just smiled, then looked at her little one and told him. “It’s a cane.” Suddenly shy, he didn’t say anything so his mom asked him. ‘Don’t you want to know why she’s using it?’ Looking him in the eye, I said ‘I need it for my really sore back today.’ It seemed an end to our very short conversation so I said good-bye and went on my way glad for this serious young man's curiosity.
“To take children seriously is to value them for
who they are right now rather than adults-in-the-making.”
~ Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting
Cashews and almonds
Seeds and grains
Maple syrup, butter and olive oil
Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
A delicious crunchy bite
~ by the spoonful.
“The greatest dishes are very simple.”
~ Auguste Escoffier, French chef
(1846 - 1935)
Nature’s potpourri ~
soft and fragile ~
faded pink reminders of
their lively beauty
only a week ago.
“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough.”
~ Toni Morrison
when sun polishes the floor,
lights the corners of the room,
my cat naps in its rays?
Only the book
I’m reading filling me with
the energy of another’s life,
and when I finally lay my head on my pillow,
soft sleep comes easily.
“The evening stands silent, listening to the murmurs of the night.”
~ Suman Pokhrel, Nepali poet
Today's wind stripped trees
of pastel pink petals
Taking over spring duties,
deep purple lilacs stand ready.
“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”
~ John Muir
out of place
that my eye saw,
my consciousness recognized.
But how?
I laughed at the old sun
using the fountain’s spray
to sketch a tiny rainbow
of colour on the water.
“…..just happy little accidents.”
~ Bob Ross, artist
not sure when or where. Could have been when I walked under flower scented trees or when examining the plump juicy grapefruit at the grocery store.
At the time it was clear and precise but I let it float away when I remembered I also needed canned salmon.
So I will let my lost thought drift like the clouds in the clear blue sky. Maybe it will speak to me again in the song of the birds because I did let it drift.
“Give thy thoughts no tongue.”
~ William Shakespeare
Raised on a prairie farm,
horizon stretched all around ~
no trees or mountains to block
that beautiful distant view.
‘what view?’ some say
But it is possibility with
nothing standing in
the way of moving forward.
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon.
We are never tired so long as we can see far enough.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
day after day I sense it’s loneliness.
But then rocking chairs don’t have feelings. It is only my feelings
that long for the days of babies
that need rocking to sleep,
toddlers working the rocking chair
for the first time. Hard work!
So, I take my book and rock gently til my head rests where my dad’s head would be.
Rocking chairs are more than furniture
~ they are moving memories.
“There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about
a rocking-chair that attaches to no other moving object.”
~ Wallis Simpson, socialite
(1896 - 1986)
