She patiently waits --
Sleeps, even…
Yet with a nature to act instantly
Upon the descent of grace.
Wheels in motion,
The divine fiery thread
The end of ignorant *******.

The first hummingbird,
The usual melee forestalled.
Long sips of nectar.
Others will come frequently,
Overcrowding the feeder.

Relentless Spring rains
Turn the garden into pools,
Soaking tender plants
Overflowing the gutters
And weighing down the bamboo.

A moss-covered tree
Guards the trail to the river.
Back-lit branches gleam.

Lenticular clouds
Quickly mask the mountain top
Morning chill persists

The press of the snow
Bent and broke the bamboo stalks
With hardly a sound

Sound of scratching nails
As squirrels race around a tree
Early light steals in

I came at first to feel some dread
When eagle wings rushed near my head
His haste forced him to drop his prey
Then move to branches overhead

I thought for sure he’d come my way
To find the prey he’d dropped that day
But no bird came, the prey was lost
And left for game to haul away

The next day came a heavy frost
The shallow creek could now be crossed
The snow clouds pushed their blackness in
Some broken trees an added cost

When snowfall starts and calm begins
I hear some chatter on the wind
An eagle family settling in
An eagle family settling in

Pale lit forest limbs
Like brush strokes from a palette
Wiped clean by moonlight.

The camp fire contorts
In a surprise morning wind.
Storm clouds mask the moon.

Translucent green leaves
Ripple with windblown shadows.
Stone steps lead nowhere.

Autumn night's question --
Whether it's rain at my door
Or the beating wind.

A nearly full moon
Rests on a shelf of cold air.
Deep quiet of dusk.

Winter lingers like a petulant schoolchild:
Clouds jostle for position, darkening with rain.
A sudden chilled wind rushes from the storm’s
Leading edge, stirring birds to flight.

Natural drains roar with the shower-fed torrent.
Trickling streams become dark-mirrored cascades.
Wind-blown branches whip sharply, some toppling
Under the relentless beating.

A fleeting slice of sunlight rolls across the distant hills.
The first stirrings of wildlife crash through the thickets.
Robins race for food.  Songbirds raise tentative voices.
The charged air is filled with the smell of wet
Foliage.

The rains would soon resume.  His usual crossing
point had already vanished.  He settled back in his
Lean-to shelter, finished his meal, and pondered the
Approaching darkness.

A cold thrilling sensation
Rushed up his spine.
His eyes focused,
Finally, on the photographs.

In the golden light, with wisps of
breeze fluttering the curtains,
he sat riveted, unblinking,
devastated.  The pictures
didn’t lie.

Thoughts of her passion-filled gaze,
her unremitting progressive politics,
her peculiar sense of humor, and
how she glowed after a shower.

How she was quick to flirt, but stayed
close at parties.  How she laughed
knowingly when she had had one too many.
How she had taken over his heart, with him
All too eager to please her.

It was gone now.  All of it.  No more
catches of her laughter from the kitchen,
no more discussions into the night about
the fate of the country.  No more of her
alluring, enchanting love.  

Just **** – and a lesson finally learned.

A heave of the earth.
Hillsides of structures collapsing;
cascades of rock and vegetation;
liquid shifting of terrain;
the silent screams
of trapped and torn people.  
We turned towards the worst damage.
Rotors, engine, and radio were the
Only sounds.

Where the flowers stop
And she begins,
Whence the sunlight beckons
And where it ends...
The dream of Love continues.

Racing a dry leaf
Down a wind-swept, winding road.
The moon bears witness.

Ahead, in the glimpses of light
Pushing through the clouds
Small trails in the dew.

Dark, tangled foliage
Arches over patches of
Road, obscuring forest
Sounds.

A jagged tree trunk
Marks the entrance to the glen.
Leaves cover the path, undisturbed.  

Within the valley, a sudden cloud of birds swirls in the
Cool evening wind.  Rushing of wings.  
They soon settle back in the glen, masked in darkness.