Monday, March 22, 2021

 


Drift

Some day I will step on my ice floe
Drift away from the fevered world
Into the dark mist waiting
Far from every word
In peace I will ride the deep waters
In silence to what I can’t see
When I reach it I step across slowly
And kneel at my moss covered tree
And lie me down beneath it
Let my eyes travel up its dark heights
And my body go down to its roots until
I close my eyes on the light.

Monday, January 18, 2021

You are my

 


If
I ever am a river
I will flow to you
Like gravity you pull me and
The pull is never ending
And my destination true
If
I ever am a tree
I will grow to you
You are the sky that I will reach for
Every limb and leaf will seek more
Of the sunlight that is you
If
I ever am a planet
I will revolve around you
In sweeping grandeur hurtling
Through empty airless silence
Never doubting you my centre

Now only me,
I know this:
What would be this house without you?
Teardrops, dry leaves, vacant space.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

 



In the soft light at the end of the night
Sleep slips away and I let it
Before thought begins I gird up my shins
Throw off the bad dream and forget it
Before the day's heat rubber boots on my feet
I walk to the dew glittered garden
The bending of back and the weight of the sack
Cancel all painful thoughts like a pardon.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Jephthah's Daughter Returning
Like Jephthah's daughter returning from the hills
I take each step, the pounding stills
It is over, then, the end is near
There’s no more room for dancing here.
My aged legs ache anyway
My knees are weak, I sometimes sway
And some I love have gone ahead
Where I must shuffle now instead.
The land around me still is green
I leave to others what might have been
The time is short and fleeting now
I move into the final bow.
They said deny it, escape it, flee
But they haven’t seen what I can see
The wildest dance of leap and bend
Leads only where all dances end.
And so I walk my head held high
My father’s word is I shall die.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

That time I walked in the October night

Walk in the dark
You can’t see your ground
You keep taking steps
But with knees slightly bent
Prepared to absorb
An unexpected jolt
From a dip or a bump
You can’t see the ground
The stars in their beauty
May draw your attention
The trees waving peacefully 
Make you relax
As you walk in the dark
Remember your knees
Be ready for impact
You can’t see the ground

Thursday, September 5, 2019


Shakespeare Out of Doors
To sit reading ancient poetry
On my leaf-pattered porch,
The wind glad swirling in the trees
Who welcome me with waves and dancing
(What better than to enjoy the trees’ goodwill),
I can tell to no one.
In solitude I have great company:
The bard brings tears and laughter.
My voice speaks his words;
His word my heart recites.
If this is how my fading life declines
I will let it slide,
Look old age full in the eyes
And find its pearl delights.

Saturday, August 24, 2019



Cathartes aura
Slow dancing in the sky above me
Hovering, soaring,
Astonishing, the beauty
They pulled the heart right out of me
And left me feebly standing
Left behind on the dismal earth. 
If you can’t weep
Walking through the woods
When can you weep. 

Monday, May 27, 2019

The Walk
I saw the brightness of the lichen after rain
On small trees growing in the woods. 
I saw a river of whitetail deer, silently 
Flowing across the path a quarter mile ahead.
I saw a pair of cavorting robins
Looping near the ground
Before they flew away to be alone together.
When I get home I pick twigs
From the upper branches of my hair.

Monday, April 1, 2019


Healed by trees
Healed by an owl
Healed by solitude,
Walks in the woods
And wine
Healed by sunlight through the leaf
Healed by deer, by snow,
By chickadees.
Healed by rare wild flowers growing. 
Healed by vines to tops of trees. 
Healed by stars and falling stars
Healed by full moon
Healed but scarred
And knowing that there will be griefs
And hoping for more healing trees. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2019


Do you write down the words
That you hear in your head
Do you read them later
Surprised what they said
Do the words take over
And fling themselves down
Til you forget your own children 
Because you are bound
By compulsion to write them
To write them all out
And later you’ll read them
What’s that all about
As if some other someone has taken you over
But you remain faithful, you heard word lover.