Dim the Lights, Good People

source

Small voyager,

you follow the stars

to find your way home

to your rookeries

to lay your single, precious egg.

Your baby,

moving to ancient ways of knowing,

will follow the moon out to sea,

when its life begins.

Dim, dim the lights

along the coast,

good people, 

so puffins

can see

the moon.

I saw a news item about puffins being confused by our lights along the coastline., which are impacting their natural migration patterns. Puffins return to their birthplace to lay their precious single egg with the same partner. When hatched, the puffling (cute!) follows the moon out to sea, to begin its life. When it follows our lights instead, it gets trapped inland. It can't live four days without food. I am heartened to discover there is a Puffin Patrol in Newfoundland, which drives around looking for stranded puffins, returning them to the sea. They have rescued two thousand babies so far. They also encourage people along the coast to turn off their lights during the summer fledgling season. 

source: Parallel Magazine

Sea-Song

The song of the sea

is full of s's,

sibilant, sussurrating,
singing waves,

seaspray, salty,
slips and slides,

seabirds sailing

surf and sky,

seahorse, starfish,
castles, shells,
scent of seaweed
casts a spell.

sunset shining,
shimmering shore.

I sink,

I sink,

and leave no more.

for Susan's prompt at Midweek Motif: the Song of a Single Word

Breathing Peace

I am a tree,

breathing peace.

I  aged full of birdsong and hope

and fresh, dewy mornings.

In evenings, with sunset in my hair,

a wolf pup curls up

in one of my arms,

and the song of the sea

lulls us to sleep.

for Lillian's  prompt at dVerse: self-portrait in 44 words

Raven Heart

When you came through the door, laughing,
into the lamplit room,
my heart stopped.
I recognized you.
I had been looking for you 
everywhere.

Everything prior to that moment
was me Before,
and in everything that followed after,
I was forever changed.

That year was tinged golden
with loving you, beautiful creature,
dark raven beauty,
eagle heart trapped and earthbound,
both longing for and resistant to the skies.

You started my slow heart beating
with love unknown before or after.
It played pitter-pat symphonies
on slow summer afternoons,
your eyes dark above me,
blue sky behind your head.
No other could compare.
No other ever did.

True Friends

Elephants never forget. Two elephants who bonded in a sanctuary when one was adult and the other an orphaned baby, when reunited 25 years later, responded with joy and definite recognition.

An elephant that bonded with a dog in a sanctuary, mourned him for a long time after he was killed by coyotes. She carried him back to the compound in her trunk, unable to leave her dear friend out there alone.

Elephants have been seen visiting the bones of their dead relatives, sometimes lifting the bones and putting them down, in a ceremony of grief and honouring.

They are fiercely loyal and protective of their young. When they perceive a threat, they form a circle, putting the babies in the centre, standing facing outward, trunks up.

They fear humans, with good reason. I cant bear to think about the physical and emotional suffering mankind has visited - is still visiting - upon creatures both wild and domestic. It is the biggest heartbreak of my life.

sources elephantsforever.com

My Dogs and Me

anastasiasgarden.com

Deep in the forest,

my house would be,

windows and doorway

carved in a tree,

with room for

my rescue dogs and me:

a fire, a teapot,

a cozy bed,

enough room for us

to lay our heads.

Plenty space for us all

if we curled up tight,

nose to tail

all through the night.

All day they would run 

through the forest trails,

barking and singing

their sheer delight.

At the end of the path,

we'd come to the sea,

every morning and night,

my dogs and me,

to watch the sun

go up and down.

We'd buy bones when we

went to Town.

When we were back home 

fed and warm,

heads tucked on paws,

and safe from harm,

rain patter on salal,

all wet and gleaming,

would send us off to sleep

and set us dreaming.

Because It Is My Heart

I selected what went in with great care:

wolf howls and a shaman with wise kind eyes;

a big black wolf whose eyes and memory

never leave me; hope and love and trust in the divine,

waves rolling endlessly onto sandy beaches,

and an old-growth forest, breathing peace;

music and puppy paws, wagging tails and doggy smiles,

lions and elephants, whalesong and birds on the wing,

and I packed them all in together, leaving nothing out,

because it is everything I love, and because it is my heart.

for Kerry's prompt at Real Toads: Because It Is My Heart