(Just composed 3/27/14)
March winds are here;
It's that time of year,
A month I dearly love,
A gift from Him above.
Daffodils, pansies--each with lovely face
Our flower beds now grace.
It's as if they're saying,
As colorful heads are swaying,
We're so happy to be alive!
How can we help but thrive,
Under happy gardener's touch,
Here where we're loved so much,
Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Wind Bloweth Where it Listeth
Someone left a streamer
In my favorite oak last night.
Breeze-activated ribbon
Twirls and glitters in the light.
This lovely, silvery thing
Dances on cool winds of spring.
I sit enthralled before this
Poem
Come to life.
(From "For Love of Christ - Collected Poems - 2006)
Sitting On a Rock, Thinking
(This from my 2011 book of the same name.)
It was the perfect spot where I could go and be alone and think. A not-yet-developed area near our house, with big rocks strewn here and there. My favorite was a huge boulder on a hill that took some work to climb. But the view was worth it.
What was I thinking about then? About writing a book. While being published in magazines and newspapers for many years, my real aspiration was to put out a book.
Lo and behold, this did come to pass. In addition to wanting to be an author of a book, or books, was a desire to have them in free public libraries. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, I was a regular user of our local library, where I would bring home as many books as they'd let me check out. My parents couldn't afford to buy me books. Moreover, in later years, I had benefited from my time spent in many of these institutions, especially the world-class Boston Public Library. One day the thought occurred, wouldn't it be exciting to have a book of mine on library shelves some day.
And beyond my wildest, not only are my books in libraries all across the USA, but they're in these places as well, in permanent collections. Some of the foreign (to me) spots on the globe that I've heard from thus far, in no particular order:
Santiago, Chile
Dorado, Puerto Rico
Leicester, England
Lyon, France
Okinawa, Japan
Stirling, Scotland
Newcastle, Australia
Bucharest, Romania
Riga, Latvia
Macao, China
Noumea, New Caledonia
Port Adelaide, Australia
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Wenjiang, China
Kuala Lumpur, Malalysia
Hiroshima, Japan
London, England
Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Osaka, Japan
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Seoul, Korea
Cork, Ireland
Valleta, Malta
Aberystwyth, Wales
Katowice, Poland
Orkney Islands, Scotland
Inverclyde, Scotland
Isle of Man
Warsaw, Poland
Cardiff, Wales
Budapest, Hungary
Sskatchewan, Canada
Tokyo, Japan
Lincoln, England
Canberra Australia
Glasgow, Scotland
Dunedin, New Zealand
Newfoundland, Canada
Hangzhou, China
Thessalonika, Greece
Guadalajar, Mexico
Livingston, Scotland
Liverpool, England
Alexandria, Egypt
Tallin, Estonia
Yerevan, Armenia
Nagasaki, Japan
Copenhagen, Denmark
Prague, Czech Republic
Barcelona, Spain
Wellington, New Zealand
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ontario, Canada
Clackmanshire, Scotland
Aberdeen, Scotland
Rekyavik, Iceland
Dublane, Scotland
Hong Kong, China
Pusan, Korea
Paris, France
Devon, England
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Dundee, Scotland
Ottawa, Canada
Nicosia, Cypress
Fife, Scotland
Manilla, the Philippines
Lisbon, Portugal
Raratonga, Cook Islands
Edinburgh, Scotland
Windhoek, Namibia
Cymru, Wales
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bejing, China
Ballerup, Denmark
Shanghai, China
Thimpu, Kingdom of Bhutan
Queensland, Australia
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Hamilton, Scotland
Bogota, Colombia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tblisi, Georgia
Inverness, Scotland
Limerick, Ireland
Bridgetown, Barbados
Nanjing, China
Kintillock, Scotland
Hamilton, New Zealand
Goa, India
Hagatna, Guam
Vienna, Austria
Singapore
Lalitpur, Nepal
the Marianas Islands
Gateshead, England
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Verona, Italy
Chisinau, Moldova
Medellin, Colombia
San Jose, Costa Rica
The Hague, the Netherlands
Suva, Fiji Islands
Milan, Italy
Naples, Italy
Lautoka, Fiji Islands
Moscow, Russia
Trieste, Italy
Minsk, Belarus
Kobenhaven, Denmark
Floriana, Malta
Tauranga, New Zealand
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
Talk about your expanding horizons!
Sonata Celestial (A scene somewhere in Tennessee)
Golden harp standing
Alone in springtime meadow.
God's winds performing.
(These 2 poems are from "Beauty Abounds - Poetry and Prose" published in 2010)
Asian Skies
There were in Seoul, South Korea
Exquisite skies of special blue,
A hue absolutely breathtaking,
Made clean by cold winds
Coming down from Siberia.
This sky, like those,
Must be a ten.
(Okay, a nine.)
But a day for being out
Unusually fine.
Wild and Beautiful and Free
What is it with me and wolves? I cannot tell you. I only know that these magnificent creatures of the wild are thrilling to see. They never fail to bring me joy. And near to tears at times.
Some time ago we happened to see a documentary showing wolf packs at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was Christmas, and it was pure magic. Trees laden with ice, the snowflakes glistening the moonlight, wolves running through the deep snow so amazingly fast and free. I sat there on our sofa with tears running down my face. Hard to explain such a reaction, but there it was. Couldn't help rejoicing that God had created such wonderful creatures.
Sitting on my desk is a photograph of five wolves out West somewhere, running across a snowy landscape at sundown. A full moon is still visible, the mountains in the background are a lavendar color, and the tinted snow is a deep purple. Gorgeous scene. One can just feel the delight and freedom these wolves must be feeling. I can, and I'm not a wolf.
Two of my favorite items of clothing are shirts with wolves on them, one with a huge wolf face staring out, and the other with two animals, one white and one black standing together under a moonlight night. When I wear these shirts, many people comment on them, and some have asked where they can get one like them. I tell them, from an Indian reservation in New Mexico whereupon I furnish the name and address.
Also, one of our dogs, a big black handsome thing, with wolf in him the vet once said, plays right into my love of these animals. Dylan acts like one at times, cannot get enough of cold weather although he's a Tennessee doggie, doesn't like to be handled much, has still after several years of having him, a touch of wildness in him.
I've read in a nature calendar my husband gave me for Christmas last year that black wolves are often classified as the Alexander Archipelago wolf (Canis lupus ligoni), a relatively small, mostly dark-colored variety of wolf named for islands within Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Anyway, Dylan looks just like the black wolf staring out at me from the month of March.
Some people need chemical substances to get them through the day. Not I. Just give me a documentary about wolves and I am high. And the one thing in this natural world I most yearn to see? The eyes of one of God's most thrilling works -- a wolf in the wild staring back at me.
Loving wolves as I do, can't help wanting for them
Consideration
Respect
Preservation
I hope you want this for wolves, too.
(This essay is from my latest book, "Words Far-Reaching: Reflections" - 2013)
Mischa the Cat
The picture you would make,
Stretched out on garden bench,
Regal, like some King
Surveying his realm
This lovely day of spring --
You black with eyes of green,
Stockings white,
Daffodils bright yellow, cream.
You had to be our cat,
It does seem,
God-caused, no mistaking that.
Wandering into our yard one day,
Starving, surviving all alone.
Now with people who love you,
You can just eat and sleep and play.
And bring us such joy.
(From "Precious - Collected Poems" - 2009)
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