Flurries Falling

Carried on the cold wind of
late fall the sound of a woodpecker
thrums through the urban forest.
So cold it is that even the shredded
bark of long-dead trees seem to
shrivel. Yet those are magical
beams of sunlight slanting off
the gleaming white of denuded
birches and the understory of
the treed hilly slopes is green
with yew carpeting the forest
floor. Sun glances off desiccated
piles of fall foliage penetrating
now where it was denied through
the leafy canopy of summer
searching for colour among the
drab shrivelled leaves. Then, even
as the sun sails buoyant in its blue
ocean, snow begins its lazy
descent, flecking the atmosphere
with white puffs of winter.

Unabashed and Modest

The Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers receives a standing ovation as he enters the House of Commons Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014 in Ottawa. Vickers was among those who opened fire on Michael Zehaf Bibeau, who stormed Parliament Hill on Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Adrian Wyld )

 

Unabashed and Modest

It is not the boastful self promoter
whose dazzle fails in times of
crises meeting a disaster upon
whom society foists its laudatory
congratulations and appreciation
but invariably the silently 
introspective one with the
introverted personality capable
of striding calmly into the
centre of a volcanic cauldron
of danger to the public, to find
solutions through personal
sacrifice. Yet though this self
abnegating scenario serving the
public weal may be seen to rescue
a dire situation from catastrophe,
still, time and again it remains
the brawny handsome fantasist
whom the public's eyes swivel
towards in worshipful admiration.

Generational

When we were young, a
lifetime ago, our parents
hauled us off to shoe stores
looking for sturdy footwear
impervious to the heavy duty
stress young limbs in motion
inflicted upon them. In service
to the solemn occasions
experienced older salesmen,
family men themselves, knew
the routine well that we so
loathed as much as the product
bringing forward nastily
rugged stock at the stated
upper-price limit. When our
own children were young that
drill had seen slight options.
The parents whose wallets
were strained had children
whose earning fortunes far
outstripped their own. Their
offspring, however, had academic
opportunities never dreamed of
by their parents. Now, in their
grandchildren's time there are
no shoe shops, only the grand
shopping emporiums of 
"super stores" and "big box stores"
large and complex enough to
threaten directional confusion,
and the hordes of those servicing
clients in the "sport"-obsessed
community are the hip young,
zealously serving the needs of
shoppers, themselves academic-
adverse, no employment available
but salary-lean and obligingly
and regretfully service-oriented.

 

Remembering

Their backs stooped with age
and grief wearing remnants
of proud old uniforms they
blink tears at the memory
of those who remain forever
young in their memory.
Companions at arms sharing
the exuberance of young men
heeding their country's call
to defeat an army of merciless
killers responding to their
own nation's call upon the
youth of the day, eager to serve
wearing their uniforms and
their rifles, their aspirations as
brave smiling faces of unlined
youth. Perishing in their effort.
Never to grow old and to weep.

The Nourished Mind

What is a dwelling place
not graced with the presence
of books but a temporary
resting place for someone's
corporeal essence, soon
enough to be snuffed in
the fullness of the human
expiration date. Indifference
to opening one's mind to the
mysteries that surround us
here and then gone, adds
little to the human passage
in limited time. The home
invested in knowing the
world and its surroundings,
honing a familiarity with
humankind's awareness
of the immensity of the 
universe and our own minds
within it savours immortality
and celebrates the very triumph
of our transitory existence.

EverythingSomehow

Photograph courtesy NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team

EverythingSomehow

A single immensely singular
infinite density of matter and 
antimatter and no one to know
of its non-existence. It just was,
the event of creation, the universe
appearing from no thing its 
patient arrival as an indescribable
quantum event of huge mystery
and sublime presence. A mere
fourteen billion years ago, an
event unprecedented and explicit
as a representation of awe
as in awful and as in exemplifying
impossible; just simply became.
From nothing but a hidden
presence unassuming and
precipitate came the ineffable
cosmos, its still lingering
microwave shifting in time and
space validating the existence of 
all. How? Do not trouble yourself.

 

Transformed

The sky a vast silver grey
dome reaching far below
to caress the forest's 
fall-nuded canopy,
loosing a whitewash
of early snow over
sere grey branches and
soon all horizontal surfaces
are brightened, the
morosely sullen hues
of grey and brown
sifted with a frozen
icing. Tiny kisses of
snow melt on our faces
limp foliage crush
underfoot, layered in
snow. The landscape 
once again magically
winter-transformed.