Right at the end of day, the sun

broke through and for

a moment all

shone in golden

light. Our hearts lightened as our eyes

turned to the sky

in gratitude.

It is good to

move toward night with a memory

of golden light,

to know nothing

grey can stay.

                                                   JDG

Even after I told myself

not to hurry –

there was no need –

I found that I

was locked into only one speed.

Who would have thought

at this late date

I’d come ’round

to where I started from and have

to relearn such

basics as how

to pause and breathe?

                                                           JDG

There are times when less is more and

none is even

better, when a

minus yields more

than a plus and emptiness is

strangely full. It’s

in these small

silences that we

meet – before words can stir our minds

and fill us with

imaginings

both large and small.

                                                        JDG

The dogwood’s slowly turning leaves

sings fall into

being. Other

 trees will soon sing

too.  Already the persimmon

is tuning up

 and along road’s

edge, those golden

flowers hum. A full fall chorus

 begins to swell,

bidding farewell

to summer.

                                                      JDG

Holding possibilities of

both rain and shine,

the heavens were

of two minds. First

one and then the other almost

claimed the day as

down below we

creatures crept, caught

between both gray and bright, hoping

for a patch of

clarity

as night draws near.

                                                            JDG

What the wind brings, it can sweep away.

Those leaves settled

only briefly 

before they were

gathered up and carried off.

The limbs still lay

where they were felled.

Will I be limb,

or trunk, or leaves when wind sweeps through,

as it has before,

leaving me shaken

and forlorn?

                                                       JDG

Soil not hardened by the sun

lets go its hold

of wandering

weeds with only

a tug or two. Our jobs would be

much easier

if we learned to

pay attention

first to the state of the soil

and only then

turned to the

pulling of weeds.

                                                     JDG

These human beings we live with

have been acting

very strange of

late. It must be

a seasonal thing ’cause they brought

a tree inside

again and started

humming all kinds

of stuff involving some bloke named

Rudolph. Well, at

least we’ve learned it

soon will pass.

                                                          JDG

When all is said and we’re undone,

how do we re-

assemble? A

mindful pause

can help us move past all the squawk

of argument

and find the ground

that holds us all.

In that safe and solid place, all

the “re’s” begin:

rethink, restart,

rebuild, restore.

                                                      JDG

On this calm day with little breeze,

some leaves let go

and float, twirling

to the waiting

ground. I wonder how they know just

when to leave one

home and journey

to another?

Some rest awhile in the outstretched

arms of nearby

evergreens,

then travel on.

                                              JDG