The Dying Goes So Slow

They sit a death watch
Now for the not so old
Man lying still slowly
Slowly breathing
So close to the end

His wife years younger
Confused yet sure of all
That must be done in hard
Days looming ahead and
Seeing painful relief.

Grown children gather
Bewildered watching the
Strong man laid so low
Sons and daughter
Waiting waiting.

Strangers come to the house
Helpers along this final path
Caring and careful
They’ve seen it all
Many times.

The dying goes so slow
A list of those to call
Sits ready on the table
Another list of final
Things to do.

Far away we wait for word
No comfort to take or give
We go about our daily
Business as the dying
Goes so slow.

We wait not watching.

Winter Forecaster: Nature Series 17

Today my walk was
Interrupted as I paused
To watch some
Woolly Bears those
Colorful crawlers as
They crossed my path.

Pyrrharctia Isabella
Science books say
Soon to be a sunlight
Shade of yellow
Flying towards my
Back porch light.

Grandmother said
Brown bands wide
You’ll play outside
Brown bands thin
You’ll be
Staying in.

Harbinger of winter’s
Strength or sign of
Nature’s power to
Renew I watch
As you make your
Way to greener grass.

Today furry friend
Your brown band seems
Very wide.

Mountain Top Missing: Nature Series

We climbed the mountain
With the help of a V6 since
Debilitating age won’t
Let us walk.

We took a road that switched
One way then another
In seemingly endless
Tight fitting esses.

Then down we rode
Into a gray canyon and saw
The mountain top had
Gone missing.

Stepping out into silence
We turned a slow circle
Marveling at sheer rock cliffs
On three sides.

A history is written in those
Cliffs etched by generations
Of miners taking layer upon layer
Of that living mountain.

Ages of rock were peeled
Off and ground into stony waste
And garnet crystal to feed an
Industrial need.

As our gaze slides down the vertical
Scene it stops to see new trees on
Narrow ledges then further down
Two ponds glimmer.

This canyon floor is littered with
The chaff of mineral harvesting
But ponds deep and pure are
Reclaiming the land.

A summer’s growth takes the path
Towards autumn and flowers bloom
Still in rocky shadows where birds
Sing echoing hallelujahs.

Fish and frogs jump and ripple
The surface of what is now a new
Mountain top as it evolves shrugging
Off the marks of men.

Fading Light: Nature Series

She was looking in
Through the sliding glass door
That overlooks the river.

A small doe standing
In the yard bathed
In the fading light
Of a Fall day.

Curious. Wary posture.
Looking at us in our
Rocking chairs as
We drank a beer
And looked back.

Her deer logic worked
In its wild way
She reckoned us a
Threat and tensed
Her whole body coiled.

She made a half
Pirouette on pointed
Hooves, muscles bunched
In her back legs and she
Exploded, springing
Away into the trees.

She left only the fading
Light and an indelible
Memory.

Turkey Trot: Nature Series

It was a little after
Sunrise when the
Wild turkeys came
Strutting into the
Front yard
Two big birds overseeing
Five youngsters.

Pecking industriously at
Whatever it is they
Eat, all business
Building up their
Reserves for those cold
Winter days soon
To come.

Subtle colors all
Brown and gray
With hints of blue.
Can birds be proud?
They seemed so
Doing their work
Imperiously moving in
Solemn procession along
The road’s edge.

I went out the door to
Cheer their parade but
They raced away in a
Feathery flash.

Usual Things

Today the sun came up in the usual way
As the world lightened
Everything around seemed about the same
Carefully nature’s common events
Came to pass
Breezes blew their soft fingers
Against sheer curtains
Clouds made their airy journey
Across early autumn skies
Birds began their melodic work
Using the same refrains learned
Over centuries
Grass continued growing and fall flowers
Cast up their familiar blooms
All the creatures of this realm performed the
Necessary tasks of their existence

You didn’t need to continue to love me
And yet you did.

Night Came Creeping

Night came creeping into the woods
So I took my chair out on the dirt lane
To watch.

Enough wine had made the mosquitoes
No problem at all and the azure sky promised a
Good show.

The forest was first to be smothered with
Shadows as sunlight fell away behind the hill
Fading quickly.

Then the forest pushed its evening shroud into
My clearing, covering me as I looked on with
Rapt attention.

From East to West the darkness deepened
Until I saw only the shape of the woods not
The substance.

My little cabin was unlit behind me, the river
Murmured softly in the ravine below, the water
Late summer low.

But then, rising above the shoulder of the valley
Crest came the Moon full and platinum bright starting
Its night time journey.

And the stars, brightest at my back, turned on
Their diamond points and littered the blackness with
Dazzling brilliance.

No city lights in this place to dim to dullness Nature’s silent
Show, a dark and lustrous duo, as it plays to an audience
Of one.

I own this night. It is my woods. It is my Earth and sky.
But you my love, far away, can have all that I own if you will
Only join me here.