Friday, March 22, 2019

SONG OF THE FROGS


Port Albion just before sunset


Song of the frogs
in the fading light
soft fade the hills
in the falling night
God touching earth
with a gentle might
and all is beauty
within my sight

Soft falls the light
on garden walls
a rose-hued mountain
as night's curtain falls
a froggy symphony
serenades the night sky
and grateful, grateful,
grateful,
I.


*********************


ODE TO A HERON

Graceful heron
swooping across
the evening sky
like a pteradactyl,
Prehistoric bird
perched
on a treetop,
my heart swoops
with you,
then stills,
standing beside
the silent pond,
waiting for the night
to settle
around us both
as softly
as feathers.

***

These poems were written in 1999, when I lived, for a few months, in tiny rooms in Port Albion,  a small community outside Ucluelet, where Pup ran wild. We were joyous. We lived by this pond at the foot of a mountain, which turned rosy pink every afternoon before sunset. Our next move was heartbreaking, away from the west coast, inland to Port Alberni, where we mourned together our lost wilderness.

Sharing this with the Poetry Pantry at Poets United.

25 comments:

  1. Being with nature..all that elemental beauty..that's a blessing.

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  2. It’s interesting and a bit of an adventure to revisit old poems, Sherry. You look back to where you’ve come from, often surprised at what you find; sometimes critical, sometimes delighted, and occasionally drawn into a dialogue with yourself that leads to a rewrite.
    These two poems reflect the joy you and pup found by the pond at the foot of the mountain. I hear echoes of Aristophanes and Basho in the song of the frogs, and love the heron ode – we get them here in North Norfolk. I especially love the lines:
    ‘standing beside
    the silent pond,
    waiting for the night
    to settle
    around us both
    as softly
    as feathers’.

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  3. Such a beautiful flow I love those froggies!

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    Replies
    1. We are hearing frogs these spring evenings once again, always a joy.

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  4. The peace and quiet joy you felt when you were in those surroundings comes through so strongly. It feels like curling up in a blanket of beauty.

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  5. The poems are glorious. The place sounds so beautiful.

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  6. I love the rose-hued mountain rising in my mind and can almost hear those frogs. We call them peepers here.

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  7. Sherry, I loved both of these. You have the most amazing collection of poetry. The heron has been following me it seems and I find peace and beauty in his message.

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  8. My goodness that is a breathtaking sight, Sherry!!❤️ And the way you describe it is so beautiful and poignant.. I love;

    "a rose-hued mountain
    as night's curtain falls
    a froggy symphony
    serenades the night sky
    and grateful, grateful,
    grateful,
    I."

    I would be too!❤️

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  9. revisiting old poems brings back the memories of the places and people/companions we shared with at that time.
    i loved both poems. they showed your love for all creatures gentle (maybe the not so gentle ones too. ) :)

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  10. After reading your note, I realized why the poems felt like pure magic—a symphony of frogs, herons that look like they were brushed to life while Nature was on one of her painting highs... And the rhythm dancing from line to line, how well all tells us about how much you loved that place.

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  11. Sherry, your poems often read like hymns and I'm overwhelmed by how you pass on the beauty you've experienced.

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  12. Two beautiful poems, about another time, another place...I don't see many frogs in the desert...I think there are some, in hidden places, and in small ponds...

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  13. Ah, it's so wonderful to read your poems from that time, Sherry. Such beautiful verses, uncanny in their observation and blissful experience.

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  14. That grateful i of the first poem is so humble it raises the poet to high magnitude
    Luv the second poem as well, the basking in the silence of a moment
    Thanks Sherry for dropping by my sumie Sunday today

    MuchđŸŒ»love

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  15. Such a lovely pair of poems, prayers. I can just imagine you and Pup wandering in the wilderness and how your hearts must have mourned at being in suburbia. Theses poems do read as prayers and expecialy when Pup is involved. I love these poems so much. So much peace and wonder in them.

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  16. i love how this poems took you back both in time and a place... loved them both

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  17. These are lovely, Sherry - really, beautifully imaged, lyrical pieces. And they work so well together. Just perfect for an end-of-day poetic pause, I think.

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  18. hank you, my friends. I am happy you enjoyed them......sigh. It was such a beautiful time and place. And now I am in another.....as the world turns........

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  19. Frogs and herons presented to us in a magical setting. How your words dance!

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  20. Pleased you are now living in a beautiful place near the sea.. Hopefully you can spend the rest of your days there. Beautiful poems.

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  21. Give me toad in the hole anyday.

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  22. This is so beautiful, Sherry. I can sense the simple, yet joyous beauty of your environment at the time.

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