Ocean You Said

Say it again and i'll give you the sea

late in the day with the sun on our backs

before us the sweep of the unbroken line

anything possible     everything here

A Place to Land

When you find it you know it

a subtle grace of color form and deed

a place of embers and mist with long walks

in truthful conversation and honest silence

where the shadowed woods echos with birdsong

where the fields show the face of the wind

and the owls call each to each in the night

this is where we'll end our days

our place to land under the river of heaven

our home and our peace

First Lightning Bug

Last night i laid down in the dew-soaked grass

to watch for a minute the beacon of a lightning bug

first temptress of this slowing orbit of the earth

in her strident attempt to call down a lover


i imagine she failed so early in the season

yet there she was casting tall shadows in the blades

making the most of her life as she must

and so was i under the first quarter moon


sharing the throb of the moment

heightens experience and broadenens of time

i saw a lightning bug and i have you to tell

i thank you and bow to your soul

Under the Canopy

click at the source

green thoughts

in a green shade

continual twilight

of the high crowns

at the beginning

of a green dream

unfurled in spring

realized in summer


when such as i

cast out remorse

a sweetness flows

into the breast

we must laugh

and we must sing

for everything

we look upon is blest

—second stanza an adaption from Yeats

The Shape of Space

click for depth

all alone not by myself

a second consciousness at play

the woods with more depth

more subtle shades of green

seen through another's eyes

never wrong in time or place

never wrong i tell myself

elevation is the smile on my face

—guided by words from Anthony Kiedis

Rain on the Windrows

a sobbing rain has ended in the warmer night

the season of fullness gathers around us

i smell it in the fresh-cut hay

breathing in the soothing vapor of the wind

mantra in and mantra out

standing barefoot in the field and looking up

long enough to be reminded once again

 the earth and the stars and the people

i love are one flower

Elevation

photo by J. Hetrick

the sun going down round and red

a hole in the cope of heaven

too beautiful not to be shared

enough to make a man

by turns visceral and virtuous

choose the latter and

live out his days in nirvana

Under Open Sky

wild strawberry

this is our time

i will say what you want

you've made it true

promise me before you go

but let us be quiet for now

when we rise we'll cast a shadow

Caesura

we paused

as you wished

and the days

went on without us 

      

petals fell away

from the may apple

Late Spring 2014

blackberry

light and fragance fill the field

the woods are thick with shade

birds are singing all the day

our hems are drenched with dew

too fast too fast when

winter seemed so long and yet

what a thrilling spring it's been

shared with transcendental souls

the children of Thoreau who for all of me

have made this mountain Concord

so i shall slow each moment down

and wait to hear the crickets sing

when summer will stand barefoot at my door