Black cattle graze in the rolling

fields, a single

black dog saunters

toward home, and

my dark mood softens into grey,

then lifts with the

quiet and the

easy pace of 

all things slow, giving me a calm

and second start 

to what will be 

a busy day.

                                       JDG

As I passed by, some in the row

of crows turned and

looked my way, while

others didn’t

shift their gaze from what lay ahead.

The key must be

to know just when

you need to hold

your gaze and when you need to shift,

and when, as with

these crows,  it makes

no difference.

                                                         JDG

At day’s end I look back and see

what Zorba saw

and celebrates:

life in all its

glorious, full catastrophe.

Moments of joy

mix with flashes

of sorrow as

I stand, back pressed against life’s wall.

Why complain when

I can step forth

and start to dance? 

                                                          JDG

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”

is what they say,

but tonight’s sky

is pinkish grey.

Does this mean tomorrow’s delight

 will be of a

temperate kind, 

watered down to

a mere sigh of  “oh, okay” and 

not something that

overflows, filling

 both sails and us?

                                                                                   JDG

“The woods will be very silent

if no birds sang

except those that

sang best.” Those words

of Henry van Dyke celebrate

the singing, not

the singer. There’s

no contest here.

The woods are made more full because

of all our songs.

Let each step forth

and with gusto, sing.

                                                              JDG

I woke up beset with little

fears directing

my attention

to what I’d left

undone. Thanking them for helping

me, I turned to

taking little steps

to do what I

could do right then, reassuring

those small helpers

that their message

was well-received.

                                                                   JDG

Worried,  I hurried into the

county office

and failed to see

the sign-in sheet.

Looking my way, the woman who

followed me in

said, “I left the

line above mine

blank because you were here first.” An

unexpected 

act of kindness

broadened my view.

                                                                   JDG

I looked up and for a moment

I saw the sun,

after a day

of gray, full slant

upon the trees before the day

returned once more

to gray. That glimpse

of sun, small though

it was, stays with me still and brings

its warmth and light

into a cold

and darkened night.

                                                  JDG

Seeking respite from the never

ending press of

life’s demands, I

flee to poetry

and chocolate and find sweet  refuge

there.  Slowing down

and savoring

simple pleasures

such as these provide a gentle

byway from all

those things I think

I have to do.

                                                     JDG