A Summer Night

The dark surrounds me. A gentle hum from the air conditioner precludes a cricket's chirp tonight. The heat is enough for me to believe that it's summer, but nocturnal noises don't hold many natural vibes tonight. 


The dog's bark only suggests a tussle with his increasing shadows in yonder yard. I ignore the cat's meowl to join me for a nightcap. 


A hint of a breeze stirs the wind chime overhead and I lift my gaze to the sky. A new moon won't hide the stars, as they slowly peek out from behind the sun's skirt. It has left me for the day. The sun that is. Now my moments are filled with a calm that only the night provides. No running is necessary anymore. 


The faint indigo is almost gone from the western edge of the world and I am quiet with my thoughts once more.


This moment of quiet, this moment of me, is a gift that I recognize today. Only a few years past, I would have rued these empty hours, afraid of the thoughts they would have spawned. Those thoughts have made me who I am though. What I am is still evolving and changing, but there is a quiet strength there that allows me to believe in me and the powers that be. Faith brought me tomorrow, when I couldn't fathom how to spell the word. Perseverance pushed me to see the next sunrise. Optimism reminded me that I would see a rainbow once again. 


And so it has.


Tonight, I sit in idle reverie awaiting my night-time prince on horse of thunder (the new beau rides a motorcycle my dears). Irritatingly small wisps of bugs fly up my nose, into my hair and nibble at my ankles, but I refuse to give up the warm air of the first night of summer. Just a touch more breeze and all my worries will be blown away! 


And so it is...


Brilliant.

Friends of Mr Toad

Yellow finch, swallow and robin too,

all friends of Mr Toad.

You can find them all

in garden glen

basking just up the road

~

Hmm, so maybe that's a frog in the picture, but I do have a few resident toads in my yard, plus a few more at the Community Garden plot that inspired this short poem.

Who's going to be picky, when a photo is worth a thousand words?

Hope you have a friend or two

just up the road as well!

Sun-Kissed Wings

Please excuse my absence. The dust bowl outside my door gets larger by the day and I run from it. I try to escape into the garden in the morning, before the noise of passing dump trucks drives me inside. Oh yes, the reminder of the workload waiting is not to be forgotten either. 

As a respite, I have even spent time in another garden plot, wiggling weeds free of their homes between rows of tomatoes, peppers, peas and beans. The work renews me. It refills my faith in life and fairies' song. I was given reminders yesterday. For that, I returned to my garden plot once more today and was given the gift of poetry, as I rested beside my square of dirt. Blessings that I accept with open arms.

~~~

Sun-Kissed Wings

hello in a stranger's smile
shared on hands and knees
toes still wet
from early dew
This morning's prayer to please

dirt encrusted fingernails
dusty filled-up lungs
sweet songs shared
from swallow's flight
and colour wheels that run

How long shall I need this pause?
When does fleeing stop?
When sun-kissed wings
of butterfly's flight
fills this heart to the top.

Spring Day

A touch of white

lace and petals bright

on a spring day light

enough to skip

through and dip

small toes into the lip

of a river swift

that gives my heart a lift

enough to bless this gift


of a day
that I never thought I'd pray
to see, let alone foray


Now mine
pure and divine
so sweet and sublime

like a shooting star
I feel this kiss from afar
and know that nothing could ever mar
~this new day~

CAUTION: Hot Monday

It's Monday. Its 31C and feels like 39C. That's 102.2F for you American folk who are enjoying the last of your Long Weekend today.

I have the radio singing behind me, but sadly I have nothing worth sharing with you folks. It is just distraction today. I am trying to block out the music of diggers, chainsaws and steamrollers that comes from outside my window. Construction season has begun and is in my neighbourhood for the remainder of the summer. The sound of backup beepers at a few minutes to 7am is not really what I would consider music to anyone's ears and certainly not how I would choose to be awoken on a Monday morning.

CAUTION: Grumpy Mama on Board

Perhaps I should have looked for an office job this summer? Anyone need a gal Friday? Can I get a do-over?

(Pretty thin for the MFM theme Do-Over, but my concentration is not what it could be as I watch orange-vested construction workers traipse across my front lawn and the pavement dissolves into a muddy gravel pit by my driveway. It's going to be a long summer people. This is only the beginning of my gripes I fear.)