We can follow that
old admonition to try
try again. Sometimes
it works, but when it doesn’t,
there’s always blame, whine, and sigh.
JDG
Open Fields Lie Sleeping
Beneath cloud-crowded skies,
open fields lie sleeping,
waiting for the call of Spring.
Could that distant sound we hear
be the first faint notes of reveille?
JDG
Just Looking Is Enough
My aging cat and I sit looking out
at the many
birds in their
feeding
place.
How
she feels,
I do not
know. My aging
self finds comfort, though, in both birds and cat.
JDG
We Find Our Way
Morning and evening
bring a sky lit with fire,
a ground slick with ice.
Between these two realms,
morning and evening,
fire and ice, we find our way
as we do through many such opposites.
JDG
Soaring Art
Right in the city
on the art museum’s grounds,
in a tall, leafless
tree, two large, white-bellied
birds reside. As we
struggle to name and classify
( hawk? eagle? or some
other bird?), they spread their wings
and briefly soar, then
land in nest and nearby branch –
an art of their own making.
JDG
Birds of Different Feather
International bird police were not needed
at the gathering today
as dark-eyed junkos,
cardinals, and red-winged blackbirds dined.
Even when that puffed-up jay arrived,
they found a way
to work things out,
though how they did it,
I don’t know. Oh, they had their moments,
these birds of different feather,
and sometimes darted off
in quite a flutter, but always they returned
and ate together.
JDG
Over Snow
I thought the snow might
slow things down or bring them to
a stop, but what I
failed to factor in was kids plus
snow does not result
in stop or slow. Instead, it’s
mostly go, go, go
in and out and all about
til I’m spinning like a top.
JDG
Toby To The Rescue
Some days the squirrels,
the birds, the deer, choose wisely
and stay tucked away,
shielded from the snow and ice,
as our Toby roams
about searching for a pal.
One part Saint Bernard
and one part idiot, he’ll
comb the hills for some
creatures, large or small, to save
in hopes that once revived, they’ll play.
JDG
Small Fires
A small fire brings
warmth to heart and home when skies
are overcast and
winter’s chill is in the air,
when freezing rain falls
steadily on last night’s snow.
The fire doesn’t
even need to heat a room.
We find light and warmth
enough in its flickering
flames, its softly glowing coals.
JDG
For Tom
What I remember most
is the way you had
of always showing up,
of being there to offer
what was needed most –
a hand, a smile,
a wry comment,
a look of understanding.
Like the fox in the Christmas tale
you loved so much,
you didn’t hold back,
but gave willingly,
wildly, and oh so well.
JDG
(Offered in gratitude and deep appreciation for the life of Tom Major)
