The Unsunny Road

 

A humming machine

Sits in my living room

Humming me awake. 

A promise of rain
Filters through the morning sun.
Really? Who wants it?

Voices in the woods!
Or is it a deep bass bird?
Or my stomach?

A trio of goats
Hearing something up above
Turn away from me.
 

The road becomes mute--
Layered clouds obscure the sun
And the bugs are back.

Pressed leaf or snow flake
Lying flat white on the road?
(Ah yes, it's bird shit).

Graveyard of flowers?
Dandelions prepare flight
To return again.

The unsunny road
Gray, spread out with unshadows,
Unsparkles today.

Or Savor the Breeze?

 


Do the lilacs sway
Because they worship the sun
Or savor the breeze?

Again the green leaves
Have captured the Spring sunshine
And held it glowing.


 

Even aching joints
Cannot begin to complain
On this sacred day.



 

Olivia says,

"Did you hear what they're saying?"

Alfred: "Moos to me." 

Drifting through the trees
Single cloud floats in the sky
Merging with blossoms.


 

 The song of the stream
Never the same melody--
Always a chorus.

Shadows play softly
On the "Children at Play" sign--
Play within the play.

The old telephone book
Wedged forever in the tree
Now shows its own grain.

Now, at the day's end

The earth takes a silent breath;

Sheep stand in the field.



 

Just Whose Slave Am I?

 

Finally lilacs

Bloom in front of my kitchen;

Scents will soon come. 

 

Cloud covers, I'm sad;
Sun breaks and my spirits rise.
Just whose slave am I?

Shadows on tree trunks;

Two birds sitting on a wire--

The world is plural. 

As slow as they go,
Two clouds traversing the sky
Don't stop for a rest.
 

Far edge of the woods:

Clear blue light between the trees--

A radiant pond.

What secret is there
That always lies beyond bend?
I never find out.

On and off again:

Celestial sun master

Plays with us below. 

What bottles are these
Placed in the perpetual
Waters of the spring?

 

Sun Slides Through the Air

 

Wind doesn't come, but
That it shakes forsythia
To litter the ground.

Sun slides through the air
Painting their leaves with new light;
And then it slides back.

Last forsythia
Hangs forlornly on the bush
 Waiting for the breeze.

It is a dog's life:
Interrupted in her nap
She still wags her tail.

Clouds cover my thoughts;
And continue to stay there
When the sun returns.

Popping in the woods--
Explosions of the gun club
Renting the still air.

Green umbrella leaves
Float beneath a sunshine sea 
Pulling down the light.

Footprints in the dirt
Keep me company en route--
Always pose questions.

As the sun goes down
It turns the field into gold
Promising return.

Fixed Forever on the Earth

Animals are pouncing

In the shadowed living room;

The sun is brilliant.

 

Shadows through the leaves

Day after the rain before;

Everything is green. 

 

The fog has lifted;

Rain has stripped the forsythia;

Petals on the ground.  

 

 

New pond in the field;

Small lake springs up next to the road;

Plants grow from pavement.

 

Color before smell:

New lilacs burst into bloom.

Their perfume will come. 

Fairy sprays of blue
Stop at the edge of the woods.
They won't cross the road.

Shadows in the woods,

Fixed forever on the earth

(Until the sun shifts).

The roadside river
Sparkles with its new found life,
Bubbling downward.