In This Blank Silence

World is white today,

A veil of snow descending

In soft defined clumps.

Street's silent and white; 

No rumble of the snow plows;

Just the falling flakes.

Two white horns peek out;

Olivia at barn door

Staring from darkness.

Standing rigidly

Fence posts marshall their white caps--

Winter mustering.

Snow is subsiding

And I am left with longing

For that which has been.

Far in the distance

A couple walks down the road.

(Their tracks are still here.)

Thoughts of my Charlotte

As I walk in solitude

In this blank silence.

Sounds of an airplane

High and unseen in the gray

Fills the white silence.

 

Delicate Falling

 

 Why is the sky gray

When the snow it calls is white?

Winter mystery.

Evergreens stick out

In the mass of brown and gray.

Sky is colorless.

Green leaves still flower

On this bush whose white flowers

Will return in Spring.

I baaaa at the goat;

He baaaa's back and so do I.

(Our conversation.)

This veil of sawdust

Has lain for many months now;

Echoing the tree.

Nestled like a child

In the crotch of three dead trees--

Gathering of leaves.

Delicate falling,

The first snow flakes of winter

Whisper their descent.

Peeking over hill--

New black and white cat plant

Watches me watch it.

This Deserted House

Colder day by day'

I leave later day by day. 

(Always something new.)

Bird feeder's ready

But still there are no birds there.

(They disappoint me)

What are they thinking,

These two cows standing so still?

(Or are they thinking?)

Robin on fence post

Surveys the field before him--

King of the mountain.

Unclaimed papers lie

As they have for many days.

(A new one today?)

Upside down white chair;

Empty windows and no cars:

This deserted house.

Dots on the mountain--

Random garbage thrown away--

Out of sight, out of.......

Bare tall tree creaking

Every time I walk past it;

(We're all getting old).

First fine skin of ice

Appears on the mud puddle;

No sound; no fury.

 

Between the Two Worlds

Glass hummingbird hangs

Secure in front of the screen

Between the two worlds.

No birds are coming

Even though the feeder's full.

(They must be bird brains).

The woods are singing

Their high tuneless song today.

(What does it portend?)

Rumbling from the woods;

Last days of hunting season.

Goat turns to see it.

Overturned trash can

And puddles in the driveway--

Two signs of no life.

How long will it take

This leaning old wooden fence

Before it falls?

Curled and wrinkled now

The "No Trespassing" sign

Has lost its power.

The misty gray glade:

Silent chants of elfin ghosts

And Celtic wonders.

Reminder of Life

From walk of December 4, 2017

What value haiku

As my Charlotte lies dying?

Reminder of life.

Have my two eyes changed

In this shifting season of light

Or is it just me?

Buds have disappeared

From the tips of the lilacs.

Where has the Spring gone?

Monsters are dancing

Above the field and the pond--

Opening steel jaws.

Trickster rays of light

Bring long dead leaves back to life--

Sienna sunshine.

Bright green blades of grass

Spring from the brown leaf cover;

Which is mocking which?

Sits in black in white

In two places like phantom,

Watching me watch him.