So Much Sorrow

 So Much Sorrow

that doesn't stop coming
Like the parched autumn
landscape
day after day of drought
Or skinny deer
in a lean mast year
wandering in search of acorns
Or tree swallows' fruitless
flights
to gather insects
in a drizzling cold
April

Like wilted September spicebushes
who wait for rain
perhaps
someday
showers will fall
and we
will be revived
once again

Hallowed Ordinary Morning

 

Droplets of dew on towering jewelweed
    sparkle like a thousand diamonds at dawn

Breeze-blown sassafras cast shadows at sunrise
    light and dark dancing at daybreak

Young catbirds splash in shallow puddles
    each drop the sun’s prism suspended in mid-air

Ruby-throats thread through stalks of crimson cardinal flowers
    swaying with stationary partners at first light

The rising sun creeps over the horizon
    bathing the morning in gold

Ripples

 

A casual breeze
ripples
across
the whole
pond.

Can a casual act
of goodness
ripple
across
the whole 
world?

Incognito

 Saucy chipmunks belt out fall proclamations
    Migrating blue jays announce their place in the world

Tree crickets trill nocturnal melodies into the wee hours
    Handsome trigs' sweet staccato punctuates the day

Ruby-throats threaten and feud in restless frenzy
    Bumblebees burrow down deep into orange jewelweed blooms

Sassafras' first leaves blush into crimson
    Butter-yellow black walnut trees loosen their grip

Indian grass blankets the field in bronze
    Mistflower billows into fuzzy blue clouds 

Amid the social order's slow crumbling
    the Holy lives among us.

Contentment

Morning-lit spider webs
waving in the breeze
backlit gnats 
hover like 
ghosts.

Mulberry trees rustle
squirrels scrabble
foraging 
for last
fruits.

Dewdrops on jewelweed
glinting at sunrise

water-soaked bumblebees
sip from orange
trumpets.

Ground crickets tinkling song
droning cicadas
as backdrop
I wrap my arms
around this moment.

August Garden - A Pictorial

 This is what happens when the plants design the garden display.

Hydrangea ‘Confetti’ - One of the few panicle hydrangeas that have loads of fertile flowers for pollinators.

.

Here with a second one whose name I don’t remember

   Cardinal flower, skullcap and blooming hostas in the back garden

Joe-pye, garden phlox, orange coneflower and heliopsis along the house

 

From a different angle

Looking across the pond, which is barely visible

Sunflowers growing taller than I anticipated

Spider flowers bordering the vegetable garden - deer don’t touch them. Neither do groundhogs.

 Spider flowers, a favorite with bees

Zinnias ‘Queeny Lime’ mix, favorites of goldfinches who eat the petals, hummingbirds, butterflies and bees

Zinnias ‘Benary Giants’ living up to their name

Shared with much gratitude for such a place to be.

August Squatters

 

Phantoms zip by
quieter than owls’ wings
quicker than flickers of shadow
against the dawn.

Catching the morning light
dust motes circle above the hay
on air currents disturbed
by invisible guests.

Discarded feathers and bits of eggshell
resting on the old concrete floor
beneath a beam are a clue.
The goats and I are not alone.
Barn swallows have returned.