A Debate With Trees

The cherry trees and I have been

arguing back

and forth this year

about the best

approach to coming to full bloom.

I said it was

better to err

on the side of

caution. They disagreed and kept

taking risks til

their splendor showed

how wrong I was.

                                                                             JDG

Many Voices, One Song

I awoke to many voices

singing one song –

a praise to Spring –

some loud, some soft,

some raucous, some subdued, but all

welcoming this

new day. I don’t

know who was more

happy, them or me, the singers 

or the one who

listens to such

full-throated song.

                                                                  JDG

When Purple Comes

Giving wild compliments to

Spring, purple weaves

with gold and brings

a softening

to land longing for Winter’s end.

I am glad to 

see Winter make

way for Spring. I

too have longed to set aside this

winter weary 

grey within and

weave with purple.

                                                           JDG

As The Red Hawk Soars

Breathing in the warmth and light of

the morning sun

as the red hawk

soars overhead,

I release night’s uneasiness

and let red hawk

tuck it beneath

his wings and fly.

Left grounded now in emptiness,

I sit and watch

as breath moves through

swaying trees and me.

                                                                                        JDG

The Eye Of The Beholder

My grandkids were relieved to hear

that I was on

my way today

to a temper

modification program called

meditation,

or at least that’s

how they see it.

I see things differently. Sitting

in silence, I

reconnect life’s

scattered pieces.

                                                                        JDG

Love, Life, And Liberty

The following is a poem written by my 9 year old granddaughter after studying immigration.

Love, Life, And Liberty

Looking toward the dock, hoping for

a sign, they all

sat breathless as

she came into

sight. The Lovely Lady Liberty

sat there on the

waves, waiting, watching,

as the passengers

cheer as they sailed closer to what

they hoped was a new

chance, a chance filled

with love, life, and liberty.

                                                                                     Kali Wells

Natural Training

Nature must have been reading the

new brain research

on strengthening

plasticity

and decided to help us out

by rapidly

alternating

between Winter

and Spring this year, encouraging

us to learn the

art of constant

adaptation.

                                             JDG

Humph!

What? There’s white upon the ground once

more and April’s 

just begun? It

may be icy

rain, not snow, but still I thought all

that was done and

the only white

I’d see would be

blossoms on flower, shrub, and tree.

Nature, it seems,

felt no need to

consult with me.

                                                                   JDG

A Work In Progress

Even though we can’t change the past,

we can rethread

the needle and

start to work with

all that old material to

fashion something

new, something that

better fits us

now, and when what we’ve made begins

to wear, we can

rethread and start

to work again.

                                                                       JDG

Quiet Gold

That row of bright forsythia,

glowing at day’s

end, yanked me from

my worried thoughts,

 hauled me, breathless, to an empty

space and left me

there to steep in

sun-lit beauty. 

I give thanks for worry’s sudden

end and for the

 quiet gold of

 moments like this.

                                                                   JDG