And Then It Rained

Within the heat-percolating atmosphere
of a midsummer afternoon where
small, furry creatures seek elusive
shelter from the humid oven their
forested habitat has become
long-fingered shadows cast by a
shimmering sun slowly fade as
blue sky becomes a platinum dome.
Soon, the gloom of early twilight
absorbs furtive movement and sound
as bruised purple-grey clouds mount
the sky and a fierce deluge accompanies
the relentless drumbeats of thunder
drenching the forest with its soil-cracked
forest floor, its distressed foliage
turning the colours of premature
autumn, the rain slickening and
glistening from treetop canopy down
to the forest floor, tumbling down its
ravined sides to find welcome in 
the creek below, flooding and dashing 
in muddy spirals of fallen detritus to
replenish a summer prepared to 
surrender the timely order of its season.

 

How Privileged I Am

In this morning's rain we enjoyed
an hour's hike in the woods with
our two little dogs. In the lighter
rain this afternoon we drove downtown
and I sat in the car with our little dogs
while my husband ran an errand.
On the street beside where we
parked was a church and beside
it sat a long-white-bearded man on
the sidewalk, a cap overturned before
him. When my husband returned he
stopped briefly for a short chat with
the man, then left five dollars in his
cap. How I love this man. When we
returned we walked in our rain-drenched
garden and I felt again how privileged
I am to have lived with this man for
sixty-one years, shared a bed and
meals and travels and experiences
and how much I depend for my
happiness and contentment with life
on this man whose character so much
pleases me and whose focus is on
pleasing me; how privileged I am.

My Garden

A casual, passing glance out my
front door surprises the garden
drying out after a copious, early
morning rainfall; colours of the
flowers it grows gleaming in the
bright shades of rain-enhanced hues
glowing in the muted light of an
overcast day that heralds early
twilight. Bees and butterflies,
dragonflies and damselflies join
birds in celebrating drought's end.
A pair of sunflower-bright goldfinches
alight on the large seeded blossom
heads of the garden's sunflowers;
tiny, bright creatures of exquisite
beauty competing with the flowers
as living, minuscule jewels, adding 
ornamentation and song to this
ever-changing landscape, my garden.

The Self-Aware Garden

My garden does its best to appear
nonchalantly unself-conscious ever since
it was chided by the Garden Muse
on its apparent pride in its presentation
as a landscape of transcendent beauty.
I have no need of modesty for my
garden but now it appears its own
subconscious cannot abide the charge
of ostentation brought against it
effectively damaging its self-esteem.
As chief gardener, I take exception
to the muse's unfair critique. But the 
garden has become so self-aware 
I must come upon it covertly, ever so
discreetly, affecting a casualness
artificial in its conceit. The object is
to surprise it in the very act of 
innocently displaying its natural beauty.
It is my considered opinion that the
garden should be preening in pride
flaunting the architecture of its sublime
presence, a secret delight of a micro
Eden whose scent, form, texture and
colour tease my senses in the reality
of its nature-endowed essence, an
affirmation of life and grace unmatched
by any human agency aspiring to tame 
to perfection an attempt at verisimilitude
reflecting nature's impeccable design.

The Accomplished Duo

They represent a breed highly
regarded for their intelligence. And
I wonder, in the presence of twins,
brother and sister, is the result double
the intelligence quotient? Perhaps not.
While at times they appear to know
what I'm about, seemingly without
signals, their intense but loving
competitive spirit often miscarries
with questionable results though
neither has yet placed the other
out of commission in the course
of their spirited duels. They can also
be helpful if not exactly polished on
occasion, as apprentice gardeners.
Their eager skill in excavating plants 
is quite impressive. Clearly regarding
themselves with some justifiable pride
as resourceful market gardeners
taking consummate care to consume 
every shred of the incriminating evidence 
of their committed industry, relieving our
garden of choice toothsome violets.


 

Earth's Creatures

Man is by no means the only
creature that nature has invested
with an insatiable curiosity beyond
its natural habitat, to cross boundaries
in a discovery quest for the unknown.
Why not flying, crawling insects
whose world of existence is the
great out-of-doors and whose
occasional unwelcome forays
within the unnatural world humans
have developed inevitably has, for
them, deadly consequences? Simply
because they offend our sensibilities
though we ourselves are invested 
in both worlds, we deny them entry
to ours. Their presence in our
physical interior spaces elicit in
us a primal urge to destroy. Not
that the presence of pestilential
creatures do not signify a threat to
our well-being. But a spider, a
Cranefly? Harmless, yet inviting
response, those delicate organisms
piquing our disgust. Some among us
however, go to great lengths to 
preserve them, gently lifting and
freeing them to nature, recognizing
their will to live, no less than ours.

Aren't They Cute!

They have been endowed by a
mischievous-prone nature with some
quite interesting features. Perpetual-motion
creatures of nervous energy? Check, they
most certainly qualify. Irritating little
tyrannical dynamos? You bet. What
they urge us to focus on is to their
benefit, not necessarily ours other
than achieving brief relief from ongoing
entitlements. Yes, they're companions
and entertaining as all hell, even if
this is the function they attribute to us
that we live to fulfill their needs. They
are superb timepieces with a metronomic
precision upon whom we can rely
to remind us how remiss we often are:
8:00 am, 11:00 am, 2pm, 6:00 pm
on the fastest swooping hand of: breakfast
extended walk, snack and dinner in
that order, and with randomized other
instances of demands to be met in
the order of demand-and-fetch-instanter. 
Wait a minute, please -- they're calling . . .