Sister Seasons

Yesterday's

cicada-seranaded heat

has simmered

down

to this morning's

cool gray

cricket's one-note song

Late summer

and early autumn

fraternal twins

perhaps

mistaken

for identical

join arms

and lean their red gold

heads

on each other's

deep green shoulders

Even the geese

are uncertain

gathering briefly

to fly south

then returning

Debt

Nature's free

we quip

facetiously

unaware

or uncaring

that Nature

waits

for payment

in kind

in silence

in humility

in joy

that can only be expressed

in tears

and a leaping heart

We are in debt

and the interest could be

our own

destruction

Transparent

I close
my worry eye
the eye that sees
only danger
and defeat
and
open
my transparent eye*
the eye that 
rests
in clouds
and clouds of leaves
that sees sky
grass
birdsong
fragrance
light
hope
peace


*what?

Being

Every cloud

every leaf

every ripple

whispers

be still

Cloud Dreams again

Who poured 

these grays

and silver blues

What hand stirred

and tilted

swirled

and

dabbed

leaving behind

this artful

horizon?

Cloud Dreams

If

I could fly

and stretch out

on clouds

that look softer

than any earthly

pillow

perhaps

I would

rest

my mind

quiet

because all around me

is quiet

Or maybe

I'd look up at stars

brighter and closer

and dream

with eyes open

Birdsong before dawn

Before the dawn
even
before spring
you wake me
with your
cacophonous 
conversation
high and low
staccato
then slow
the call that trills up
like a slide whistle
the rounded one note
of the dove
Far west
on the lake
geese are calling
at the seam
of the eastern horizon
the sun awakes