The green Earth sends her incense up
To greet the breaking day
From valleys and meadows
Comes the fragrance of new mown hay.

The morning mist rises lazily
Above the streams and ponds
Fragile tendrils of moisture
Gathering in wispy fronds.

The birds are chirping mightily
Heralding the dawn
There's a gentle stirring rustle
Morning movements of a fawn.

My horse and I enter the forest
While the dew is still on the leaves
She lowers her head to the water
Where she stands up to her knees.

Small creatures scurry before us
Indignant at being disturbed
By a big-footed man-smelling stranger
Intruding into their world.

The water chuckles and frolics
Finding its way over the rocks
It gurgles around boulders
And swirls and tumbles and drops.

The banks of the streams are strewn
With flower petals, pink and rosy
They settle gently on fern fronds
Looking peaceful, comfy and cozy.

The steep sides of the gully are shale
And water seeps out in places
It finds its way into pools
Where the minnows are having races.

I know about oceans and lakes and rivers
About power dams and high waterfalls
I appreciate the importance of water
I love it from wherever it calls.

But my private stream in this gulley
Teeming, insected', berried and mossed
Seems akin to a forest primeval
Where the Hand of the Goddess just passed.

I do so enjoy the fury of a storm
The relentless driving rain
Descending in sheets
Being blown into every
Crack and crevice
By a howling raging wind
Whipping first one way then another
Bending everything in its path to its will
I feel envy, too
How much I would like to
Release my pent up feelings
What a storm I could often create.