BLACKBIRD

source

Softly sighs the willow

at the lakeshore

where once I walked with you

so long ago.

You told me then

it once had been

a riverbed;

so many truths

I'd not yet

come to know.

Now desert blooms

between your heart

and mine,

in reverie,

through all the years

of time.

We said goodbye

and left our song

unsung.

Sweet ache,

remembering

when our hearts

were young. 

Sigh. Another one for Shay. So much saudade. Gah! This was the other of my two loves. He was a beauty, with a blackbird heart.  But Pup was my soulmate. He stayed. Also sharing it with the Poetry Pantry at Poets United.

SAUDADE

The withering leaves of autumn
are releasing, one by one
- fearful of falling,
but having no choice
as stems weaken and let go.
The Westerly puffs his cheeks,
scattering stratocumulus
across Father Sky.

Those days,
I walked with you,
along the shore,
exulting,
life more perfect then
than I had ever dreamed.

You took exultation with you
when you left.
What remains is
underlying sorrow,
playing counterpoint
to golden mellow hours,
like a slow, sweet saxaphone
playing a serenade of love
on a late-summer September afternoon.

For Shay's prompt at Real Toads - to choose one of the words. SAUDADE jumped out at me, the pervasive longing for one who is gone.

Clueless

The clues are everywhere,
but the leaders have thrown out
all the magnifying glasses,
and are directing global traffic
with closed eyes.

The multinationals
dump the evidence
of their transgressions
into the sea.

Humanity suffers
the repercussions.
The billionaires gloat,
blaming the poor
for their resulting misfortune.

For Susan's prompt at Midweek Motif: evidence or clues.

I RESIST!

The Carolinas NBC photo

I resist the fake truths,
the crudeness, the ugliness,
the divisive rhetoric.

I know we can do

so much better than this.

North America is full

of big-hearted people.

There is more light

than dark in this world.

It's just that darkness

has the upper hand right now.

I resist a government
who rips children
from their parents,
locks them in cages,
(for $775 per child per day),
then loses track of where they are.

I resist believing
people would consider
voting them in again.

I resist believing
that the climate deniers will win,
that somehow, globally,
our leaders – and ourselves -
will not wake up and
begin to do the hard work
of assisting Mother Earth
to regain her balance.

I resist the likelihood
that species after species
will go extinct on our watch,
that our seventh generation of children
will never see
a forest, a bear, a whale;
that for them water will be
as expensive as oil is now,
and their wars will be fought
over water.

I refuse to believe
disaster upon disaster
will wipe us all out
because Greed and Corruption won
and good people
allowed it.

I can live in this mess
just a little while longer,
waiting for the world
to wake up and get real.
I resist the despair
that edges closer
with every newscast.

Just barely.

for Brendan's prompt at Real Toads: Resistance. If ever there was a time, it is now.

BUDDHA SMILE MOON

[I used my zoom. Wow!]

Fat and round and placid

as bellies after harvest,

a smile that harbors secrets

you will never tell,

purveyor of myth,

portal of mystery,

you sail across my evening sky

serene as a ghost ship

easing into port.

Buddha Smile Moon.

One from 2013. I picked one that is easy to read, and positive, as there is so much discouraging news going on. Hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend, and are safe from storms. Sharing this with the Poetry Pantry at Poets United. 

Sunset at Wickaninnish

As I sat on a log,

those years ago,

wondering if you loved me,

pink clouds,

puffy and portentous,

crept across 

my evening sky.

I thought this must be what

the floor of heaven 

looks like.

And now you are on

the other side

of those clouds.

You did love me,

just not in the way

I hoped for.

We stalked sunsets together,

shared songs and laughter,

supported each other

for 38 years.

A friendship like that

never knows

a sunset.

for Sumana's prompt at Midweek Motif: Sunset. I live in the land of beautiful sunsets!

A Beautiful Gift

On Friday afternoon, in the first downpour of rain in months, we gathered in the small park overlooking the harbour and were privileged to watch the Tla-o-qui-aht men raise Tofino's very first totem pole. This pole was carved and gifted to the village by local Nuu chah nulth carver Joe David, to honour the ha'wiih (the hereditary Chiefs) of this Haahoulthee (territory).

What an amazing gift. Such a beautiful presence, the Thunderbird on top protecting the Chiefs. The small child on the bottom honours Joe David's granddaughter, and all of the children.

In the evening, there was a great feast, to celebrate the occasion, and the Chiefs, the Nuu chah nulth and the villagers came together and shared food and friendship.

I will visit this pole often. I will stand in deep respect, and listen to what it has to tell me about the beauty of people, and how we are meant to live together in harmony and respect.