To Earth

 

-------To Earth-------

 

I have learned a lot 

from the trees

 

In our slow 

return 

toward winter

 

Like how to embrace 

and not avoid

 

The changes 

that are bound 

to come

 

From fecund spring 

to the gold and green 

 

And back 

again 

to earth.

 

-------

Sway

 

-------Sway-------

 

The oak trees 

sing 

a certain song

 

Without their leaves 

in winter

 

A swaying hymn

like a prayer 

of thanks

 

To the light

now waning.

 

-------

Of Which We Dream

 

-------Of Which We Dream-------

 

I can see the snow

that is soon 

to come

 

Falling now

atop the mountains.

 

The future 

can feel

so far away

 

And yet

in some ways near

 

In the dreams we dream

and moves 

we make

 

Toward 

the world

we long to live in.

 

-------

Lay to Sleep

 

-------Lay to Sleep-------

 

Soon 

the snow 

is going to come

 

And lay to sleep 

the garden

 

A blanket 

upon 

the resting child

 

Of all that we 

have planted

 

Every seed 

and sprout,

root and tree

 

Nothing more

now we can do

 

But hold 

their light 

til Spring.

 

-------

 

Cover Crop

 

-------Cover Crop-------

 

The cover crops 

are growing

 

Like weeds that we have planted

 

Tending 

the wound

 

That is uncovered ground

 

With roots

and leaves

 

Who hold the green

 

Through the dark

between

 

Til spring.

 

-------

 

Burdock

 

-------Burdock-------

 

Stuck to me 

like a burdock burr

 

Is a stubborn faith 

in people.

 

The most prickly 

among us even

 

Have a taproot stretching 

deep into the earth

 

Into a time

of ancestors and children

 

Where wonder 

still resides

 

And the faith 

inside me lies

 

That a taste of this 

need only be remembered

 

For so much

in this world to change.

 

-------

 

Amber

 

-------Amber-------

 

The flowers are gone now

but their smiles

still remain

 

In the medicines 

we made

when the moon was full,

 

In the honey's

amber

and the winter squash

 

All holding

the light 

until spring.

 

-------

Showing Off

 

-------Showing Off-------

 

I am 

not shy with the woods

 

Nor afraid 

to be myself

 

Especially in Autumn

 

When everyone,

it seems,

 

Is showing off 

their finest colors.

 

-------

Inner Truth

 

-------Inner Truth-------

 

Change me, Autumn,

like you change the leaves

 

And the flowers 

into fruit

beholding seeds.

 

Remind again

to be humble

 

And to forgive

 

Like the leaves 

forgive

 

The green 

that is the pride 

I carry

 

To the burgundy

and gold within.

 

-------

 

Never Gone

 -------Never Gone-------

 

The sun's shine 

returns

again

 

After a few 

days of rain

 

Covered up 

like clouds

around

 

The light

that we each carry

 

Sometimes unseen

but never

ever gone.

 

-------

Autumn Worlds

 

-------Autumn Worlds-------

 

Gold on green

the goldenrod

 

Alongside oats

and clover

 

Where forest 

and field

 

Meet

an edge

 

Is made

unlike another

 

A world where worlds

interweave

 

And possibilities

emerge.

 

-------

Before Me

 

-------Before Me-------

 

Digging 

new beds

for a hillside garden

 

I can feel the hands

that dug here

before me

 

Their bodies in rhythm,

like music,

with the season

 

Move through me

and keep

me moving

 

Knees bent,

back straight,

bare feet upon the earth

 

A care-full gesture

to honor

this body

 

And those 

who have come

before me.

 

-------

 

Far Out

 

-------Far Out-------

 

Far out weeding

in a far off field

 

Alongside Heron 

and the frogs

 

Where there's room to move

and time to listen

 

I can be present 

 

With the plants

I've been tasked to thin

 

And the thoughts

within

 

My cluttered 

mind.

 

-------

Thunderstorm

 

-------Thunderstorm-------

 

A late Summer thunderstorm

makes room 

for early Autumn

 

Like a gardener planting 

and saving seeds

 

Bridging 

time 

in a way that remembers

 

The seasons

are ever-changing.

 

-------