HOME                                                Ramblings about “Nature”

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click Title to jump to poem, Click Back arrow to return, Click Back again for HOME PAGE     

 

 

FOREST

PORTENT OF WINTER

FALL

FROM MY WINDOW

THE STREAM

DESERT SILENCE

MISSISSIPPI IN MY YARD

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

OH STATELY TREE

CARRY ME AWAY

EVENING SNOW

IN THE END

TREE SIGNS

THE GREEN OF SUMMER

SPRING

TRUTH

SPRING FOREST

NEW GREEN

DESERT MORNING

A WALK ALONG THE RIVER

MORNING WALK

RAIN

SNOW

ETERNAL JOURNEY

WANDERING WATER

 

 

FOREST

 

Luscious greens, as a backdrop

            Reds and yellows peeking

Through the landscape orange highlights

            Splash of fuchsia leaking

 

Forest dark, bursts with light

            Sunlit fairyland

Raindrops glisten, neon colors

            Dress the wooded stand

 

Party time, all in costume

            Natures celebration

Coming quickly fall and winter

            Cycle of creation

 

Each new day the face is changing

            Primeval to Monet

Through the winter, stark and dreary

            Hopper comes to stay

 

When the earth turns, finds its way

            To the sun inclined

Warming climate prods the coming

            Of new life defined

 

Through the summer, joy triumphant

            Renewal lives, and dies

All too quickly, all is changing

            Despite what we devise

 

Green submits to, fall’s bright colors

            Following life’s demand

Ever changing, ever different

            New beauty, ever grand

           

 

 

PORTENT OF WINTER

 

Colors warm, but chill is there

            Leaves have fallen, trees did wear

Their clothes of summer, shed in Fall

            Baring trunks now seen by all

 

Suddenly the colors bright

            No longer glow with suns hot light

But lay upon the ground inert

            Become a carpet on the dirt

 

Summer blue has left the sky

            Cooler hues now greet the eye

Kaleidoscope of pastel light

            Swirling leaves in wind blown flight

 

No longer signs of summer past

            The leaves do signal cold repast

Hard to tell just when it changed

            Portent of winter, emerged, remained

 

 

 

FALL

 

I look from out my window clear

            To see the trees all colored there

Yellow orange red and green

            More to know, then can be seen

 

A wonderland that draws the eye

            And mind to come, immerse, decry

The worries normal to our day

            Absorb instead fall’s brilliant way

 

I Listen with my eyes and mind

            Hear the sounds, a visual kind

My heart and soul dance and sing

            My spirit soars on newfound wings

 

Into the colored tapestry

            I follow eyes that long to flee

Vanish into canvass planted

            Watch as beauty is decanted

 

It is a door to fantasy

            Colored warm inviting me

Sunlight sprinkled, taken in

            Returns to glow from deep within

 

This colored view, calmness yields

            Its subtle strength, deftly wields

A power used to give me pause

            Feel effects of nature’s laws

 

Move from was, to what will be

            Fall in beauty a bridge a key

Transition now from hot to cold

            Winter coming, stark and bold

 

Has its own, distinctive views

            Seen in grays and whites and blues

Palette new, each season brings

            And gifts which I, their praises sing

 

On and on the changes go

            Season into seasons flow

Endless beauty for the taking

            Makes my dreams, far less than waking

 

 

FROM MY WINDOW

 

Sunlight pouring through the window

            Splashes all around

Flashing brilliance through the trees

            Explodes upon the ground

 

Icy blue the sky is backlit

            Coming winter’s crown

The stream is falling over rocks

            As it meanders down

 

Birds occasionally flying by

            Missed their winters call

Late to leave, they should have left

            Earlier in the fall

 

Breezes rustle remnant leaves

            Clinging to the past

Futile effort, nature flows

            New season born from last

 

Quiet though the scene may be

            Life is evident

Peaceful signs the future comes

            Asks not for my consent

 

I am bystander, watch in awe

            As nature takes it’s course

Bathed in feelings, can’t express

            For words I’m at a loss

 

A joyous moment, all is well

            Hope, to start the day

If I am lucky, then the morrow

            Will start again this way

 

 

 

THE STREAM

 

Glistening water parts the leaves

            Flows, meanders, lives and breathes

Long on beauty, short on power

            Waits to grow from next fall shower

 

Dreams of spring when it will be

            Roaring river flowing free

But for now it quietly plays

            In it’s bed content to stay

 

 

 

DESERT SILENCE

 

Noiseless breezes move the trees

            Transparent puppeteer

A dance in mime, a desert Show

            For the eyes and not the ears

 

The silence has a sound, a presence

Palpable, yet light

The breathing in and out of life

            Exists beyond the sight

 

Connected all, we interlock

            Expanded consciousness

Not alone, but only part

            Ourselves admit, confess

 

 

 

 

MISSISSIPPI IN MY YARD

 

Behind the house, down a slope

            A stream meanders, builds its hope

Dreams of growing big and strong

            Of  traveling far and lasting long

 

Gets from rain some nourishment

            And more from snow, encouragement

Swells and grows, fulfillment sees

            If all will last beyond the freeze

 

Its goal it knows, can be met

            A chance to have its moment yet

To be a mighty river’s hard

This dream began in my back yard

           

 

 

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

 

Every day I look beyond

            The windows of my room

At trees and hills in shadows fading

            As dawn, so near, does loom

 

Pinks and reds, Orange glow

            Hills reflected gold

Night makes way as day moves in

            In a way now centuries old

 

In all the days, that have begun

As I have watched in awe

Not one have I  perceived the same

            And always yearn for more

 

Though beauty, in the day is found

            And setting sun enthralls

Night for me is waiting stage

            Where nature, dawn installs

 

In first light there’s orchestra

            Woodwinds humming low

Joined quite soon by vibrant strings

            As the earth begins to glow

 

Horns do herald streaking light

            Across the blazing sky

And finally the symbols crash

            As day bursts forth to fly

 

And every morn the orchestra

            Prepared, awaits its cue

A score rewritten every night

            Makes each performance new

 

 

 

OH STATELY TREE

 

Oh stately tree growing there

            Beyond my window, tall and fair

Surrounded by your family

            Living out your destiny

 

Quiet and inexorable

            Your life and mine dependent, full

You take my breath and turn it round

            Give it back with new life found

 

In effect you nurture me

            Become a part my family

Supporting me through thick and thin

            Oh stately tree, my blessed kin

 

 

 

CARRY ME AWAY

 

Raging torrent holding me

            I cannot pull my gaze from thee

Power, aphrodisiac

            Draws me in with naught held back

 

I am surrounded by the gush

            And rush and swirl of you

Mind invaded, thoughts pervaded

            Made a part of what I view

 

I am become what I see

            I want to flow like you so free

Strong, determined, abandonedly

            Euphoric for, eternity

           

 

EVENING SNOW

 

            The forest dressed in Bridal white

            Appears a fractal frozen sight

A patterned intricate delight

            A silent birth in dark of night

 

A delicate and awesome view

            By virgin snow the trees imbued

Light and shadow woven through

            Crowned with gray and icy blue

 

Winter lace in light of day

            Will have its moment, melt away

Alas this beauty cannot stay

            As wind and sun return to play

 

Slowly imperceptibly

            Wooded hues from white we see

This view pristine will cease to be

            As it must, inevitably

           

 

 

IN THE END

 

I look into a wintry stand

            Of naked trees upon the land

In windless weather they command

            A lovely pattern, static, bland

 

But when the breeze, in vigor moves

            My rapt attention it behooves

Me to observe, like horses hooves

            The galloping on of time it proves

 

Pictures changing everywhere

            As moving branches hold my stare

Of complications I’m aware

That nothing stays the same, or fair

 

An endless chain of change is life

            Its glory is with newness rife

And not without its share of strife

            But in the end, eternal life    

           

 

 

TREE SIGNS

 

Oh lonely silhouette so fine

            Who starkly stood through winter’s time

Hints at things that soon will be

            As singing birds are filling thee

 

Backlit by the crisp blue sky

            Your guests have caught my morning eye

Assembling, are inspiring sight

            As in your arms they all alight

           

Snow still covers most the ground

            While up above you host the sound

Of warmer days which will abound

            When leaves return and spring is found

 

 

 

THE GREEN OF SUMMER

 

Like a smile in all its subtlety

            The green of summer comes

Translucent in their newness

            The leaves transcend their sums

 

 

Paint the world with happiness

            Perfume well the time

New life in joyous chorus brings

            A passion play in mime

 

 

 

SPRING

 

Green is showing everywhere

            Not dark but light and yellow fair

Fills my soul I am aware

            And not of worldly things to care

 

Borne through winters dreary cold

            Life renews from time untold

Sunlight on it’s young and old

            Smiles for what will now unfold

 

A grand ballet choreographed

            With birds and trees and rivers staffed

Freed of winter’s grip they laugh

            Reel from joy and sunlight quaffed

 

Prepare to don their summer clothes

            As sap of life within them flows

Their finery, a Master chose

            A time of beauty and then to close

 

For each of us a place in time

            A life appointed by Him sublime

A place of honor in the grandest rhyme

            Miracles beheld, and joy consigned

           

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

By what transcendent magic

Has winter turned to spring?

From where have come the greens I see

            That nature’s offering?

 

By what celestial slight of hand

            Has grim become Monet?

How has the world deceived my eyes

            This fantasy display?

 

Barren was the view I saw

            Stark and wintry cruel

And then it was a feeling soft

            A veil upon the jewel

 

From severe, the change I saw

            A trifle every day

Became a thing of beauty though

I missed the changing way

 

The artists of the universe

            Did fool me and astound

Deceived with deft diversion, played

A game with their background

 

From dreary to exciting, trees

            Brandishing new style

From brushstrokes of a pictogram

To pointillism wild

 

From a clear uncolored view

            To tapestry brand new

Surreal surroundings I construe

            I’m not alone, nor you

           

 

 

 

SPRING FOREST

 

The landscape is awash in color

            Drenched in yellow green

What once was incidental has

            Now become the scene

 

Little leaves growing fast

            Scattered here and there

Have now become a multitude

            Their dominance declared

 

No longer dabs of color in

            A winter mostly bare

But lush beguiling fairyland 

            Inviting eyes to stare

 

Layer after layer placed

            As far as I can see

Surely will envelope me

            If I venture past a tree

 

Beauty born in mystery

            Calls me from within

I fear to tread beyond the edge

            Return, I know not when

 

 

 

NEW GREEN

 

The light of day, filtering down

Dresses the trees in filmy gown

Bathes the world in yellow green  smoke

Wondrous dreams it does invoke

 

Reality, unreal sublime

Distorts for us the passing time

Offers up a world unknown

Tempts us to, our own disown

 

Tricks it plays with all we see

Skyway roads on light can be

All is possible, we are free

From light of day on a simple tree

 

 

 

DESERT MORNING

 

Out in the desert

            Just before dawn

I’m privileged to watch

            As a new day is born

 

Pink rims the mountains

            As purple and blues

Evolve into oranges

            And great golden hues

 

The sky is afire it

            Burns left and right

A heavenly production

            To stun and delight

 

The earth is all quiet

            The light is still dim

The view is surreal

            A painting by Him

 

Constantly changing

            Minute by minute

The horizon explodes

            Every color is in it

 

If colors and light

            Were sounds to be heard

A deafening chorus

            Would indeed be inferred

 

The heavenly light now

            Spills to the ground

Today will be born

            With nary a sound

 

The desert creatures are

            Still mostly sleeping

But some are awaking

            Come scurry come creeping

 

The pheasant in packs

            Are pecking the ground

In search of a meal

            In hopes to be found

 

The rabbits are eyeing

            Any new thing that’s green

They’ll gobble it up

            Before it, you’ve seen

 

The world comes alive

            The orchestra assembles

A symphony of life

            It makes my heart tremble

 

Out in the desert

            Like nowhere I’ve seen

Perspective is different

            Time warp I’m between

 

The stillness is evident

            As bright light does rain

Down on the earth

            So night will refrain

 

From staying too long

            As impatient day pushes

A new beginning on

            Wildlife and bushes

 

A glorious thing

            The birth of a day

It cleanses the soul

            Leaves nothing to say

 

 

 

A WALK ALONG THE RIVER

 

I walk along the river, far

From city sounds and air

Bird songs keep me company

            Sunlight warms my hair

 

Cool breezes blow around me, bring

Smells of grass and tree

Every pore upon my body wakes

            Stimulates, arouses me

 

The boughs are rustled by the wind

            As underneath I walk

A smile resides upon my lips

            Many thoughts to me do talk

 

I think about from where I came

            And where I am to go

The wind blows hard the thoughts are gone

            Shadow patterns I come to know

 

It matters not how hard I try

            My mind grows quiet, still

Absorbing sights and sounds of life

            Bringing joy my soul to fill

 

My words do fail in vain attempt

            To tell it like it is

Renewal is a word come close

            Describing natures kiss

I walk along the river far

Find a special kind of bliss.

 

 

 

MORNING WALK

 

Early morning, mist is rising

            Quiet is the day

Motionless the loon is standing

            Ankle deep in water’s way

 

Occasionally the silence broken

            A chirp from here or there

Unseen, the birds awaken softly

            Of dawn they are aware

 

Reeds along the riverbank

            Screen a quiet world 

Sun is rising night gives way

            A new day is unfurled

 

It is as if I view my own

            Awakening to life

As part and yet observer in

Natures daily rite

 

Each day anew in harmony

With other things that live

The slate is clean the time is mine

            Understand my gifts to give

 

There is a place, over rocks

The water gurgles free

A soothing pleasant sound is made

            As the river speaks to me

 

Words do not do justice as

I walk another mile

The sun is warm and on my lips

An ever present smile

 

 

 

RAIN

 

Rain is beating on the pane

            Sometimes fierce, sometimes wane

Sometimes a gentle lullaby

            Sometimes it’s nature’s angry try

To shake me from my current view

            Slyly give to me a clue

Sky is cloudy gray and dark

            My thoughts meander and embark

On adventure newly brought

            From the depths of my own thought

Like a boiling pot I’m stirring

            Pictures, words are all concurring

On a theme not yet revealed

            From my mind it is concealed

I am a guest this cosmic show

            Inside my head the currents flow

Outside the storm rages on

            Inside I’m dry and strangely calm

While the earth itself is cleaning

            Sunlight in my head is gleaming

Rainbows may not come to be

            But my mind will always see

All the colors of the past

            Played upon a screen so vast

Surrounded by the heavens play

            Absorbed I am in what they say

Look I do for deeper meaning

            More than random it is seeming

What is it I am to learn?

            Does this play myself concern?

Why does rain seem to cleanse?

            Or make my questions have more sense?

Is it that nature reaches out?

            Allows me to distraction rout

For an instant I’m imbued

            New cosmic understanding viewed

Somehow the rain my answers bring

            Like birds with nourishment on the wing

I’m fed on substance strange, unknown

            Understanding to, me has flown

Words are not effective tools

            Explanation is for fools

I must absorb and feel not think

            As nature takes me to the brink

Of all that I can ever know

            Of life’s great river in its flow

Its secrets kept and guarded well

            To mere mortals it wont tell

But on a rare and beautiful day

            Nature lets us see the way

The pieces can all fit together

            Point of fact the rainy weather

Telling us of life’s great glory

            Inspiration is the story

Coming from I know not where

            A message sent from High, He’s there.

 

 

 

SNOW

Snowflakes gently falling down

Make unreal the trees and ground

Slowly, in their quiet way

Change the world to white and gray

 

Then to etching, Black and white

Pure and clean as Ansel might

Natures brush, beyond mere man

A tribute to his mighty hand

 

In just a few short hours he took

The old away, and brought new look

Dressed the world in wedding white

Brought new hope, it’s quite a sight

 

A negative of life, it seems

All reversed as in our dreams

Surreal, it shakes our faith in sight

As we admire his awesome might

 

 

 

 

 

ETERNAL JOURNEY

 

Raging river that I watch

            Run and tumble on your march

A little stream grown up strong

            From sudden rain, but not for long

 

When the rain and snow have ceased

            And warmth of summer is released

You’ll be again a babe attended

            You will return from whence descended

 

You’ll get to live your life again

            Each year, unlike us mortal men

Child, then adolescent growing

            All the time you can’t help knowing

 

Death is not your coming fate

            In spring to birth you will relate

Ah, I envy your life plan

            Eternal journey, child to man

           

 

 

WANDERING WATER

 

Dappled sunlight on the yellow

            Rust and orange speckled ground

Turning leaves are slowly falling

            Adding grace without a sound

 

Through the quilt that fall is making

            Water runs and turns and rolls

Gurgles, drops, meanders, flows

            Wordlessly His hand extols

 

Abundant beauty fills the senses

            Carries us away

Thoughts are washed from out the conscious

            We are invited long to stay

 

Refreshing breezes blowing through

            The windows of our mind

On the banks of wandering water

            Life’s analogy, we find

 

Around the bend the stream does come

            Origin unknown

Disappearing at the next

            Turned by random stone

 

Whether we are on the land

            Or in the timeless flow

Change is constant all around

To the next, we each must go