Prelude to Spring

A passing shower brings
A prelude to spring.
It dimples and pocks the lake
Creating self-healing divots
Craters and canyons
Painting and sculpting and painting again
The grey liquid canvas.
Watch closely or you might miss it as
The eye jitterbugs from near shore to far
Wanting to register
Each drop as it strikes
A visual cacophony of
Low rollers circling and radiating
Brothers and sisters
Born from above
No two seem  alike
(Though there is
A strong family resemblance).

A sudden burst bring more and more
Radiating circumferences
Shoulder by shoulder
Crossing and blending these
Fluid Venn diagrams,
Now being studied by mallard mathematicians
Paddling across the pond
Wondering if dinner is included with this show?

 Soon, a drier wind sweeps
The grey palette clean
Shape-shifting the water,
With a pause and a stillness,
An ephemeral epilogue
Waiting for the rain to return
Once again.

Donald Trump's Birdfeeder

I’m going to send Donald Trump a birdfeeder.

You might picture it in the window of this photograph,
Possibly with a Peterson’s Field Guide placed usefully on the Resolute Desk.
I won’t labor the President with any lectures on ornithology
Or science or adaptations and the like,
Since he wouldn’t likely listen to me.
I’ll only ask him to keep the feeder filled
With a nice mix of sunflower seeds and millet.
The chickadees and titmice will be appreciative
I’m sure.
 
Maybe the President will watch them and marvel
At their enterprising natures,
Their common beauty,
And their valiant struggle for survival?
They will only take a few minutes of his time each day
But they will surely show him things he did not know,
He did not know,
Like steadfastness, diversity, playfulness, and simple joie de vivre.
 
David Thoreau said,
   "I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment,
   while I was hoeing in a village garden,
   and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance
   that I should have been by     
   any epaulet I could have worn."
Maybe the sparrows will teach The Commander-in-Chief
About peaceful co-existence?
And tolerance?
And modesty?
William Wordsworth is oft quoted,
   "Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher."
 

All leaders need teachers.

 

EPA Lament

Do not steal the air from me
I could not bear such poverty
And fill again the pristine sky
With dirt and soot that stings the eye.

The earth our home we must not foul
I long to hear coyote’s howl
We share it all with birds and beast
The giant whales and microbes least.

The streams and lakes and oceans wide
The care of which we must abide
This is our home from which we came
To spoil it now will be our shame.

 

Not Yet a Swan Song

I thought that I had lost a swan.

Viewed through the window
And across the lake
They sailed there mornings
On most fine days
As a threesome of waterfowl
Forming a triptych
Hinged in their beauty,
Into my vision such
Clouds upon the water,
Joy upon the heart.
 
But then one was gone
So it seemed
And out of kilter was my new view,
A rowboat plying with but one oar.
The remaining pair flew low and muted
Across the ice covered lake
Whistling for their vanished friend
Or so it seemed.
And I counted down their loss and mine
As the way of the world both harsh and cold
Which sometimes snatches up
Such beauty and promise
Rendering forever
The goodness from their lives.
 
But then I saw on this grey dark day
Found, not lost the triplet!
Gliding across the distant way
And still within our visual bond
Pallid and strong against the breeze
And so it seems
What was lost is now found
Whose return required nothing more
Than fidelity
Which is to say:
Have faith and hope,
Let’s wait and see.

 

 

 

Walking with the President

I would like to take the president for a long walk in the woods.
We would climb humble hills and majestic mountains,
We would cross small steams, steaming in the morning light,
We would ramble across flowering fields and watch the bees
Bobbing on the blossoms.
We would listen-long, smell deep,
And touch things wet and cool and smooth.
We would spend dark nights perched on a rocky crag
And just look up...
And think back to the beginning of time.
We would walk and breathe and discover our way
Deeper into the universe,
Deeper than we ever have been,
Deep enough to realize that we do not need
To be in control,
And that it is good for us to let that go
On the next sun sent zephyr,
And know that there is most certainly
A better way.

 

The Lonely Walk

We have been caught out in the cold
In the fading light of this democracy
We have taken for granted
That it would always be there
Solid and monumental.
Silly to think it could not be snatched away
Silly to think that there was such a thing as
Absolute trust.
Absolute good.
This is a miss-read of human nature
This is a painful moment
This is a  long, lonely walk home.