On Nature and Sustainability

What nature leaves behind
when she uses or destroys
still seems to have
some gracious contribution
to the landscape;
some shape or form
which even as it disintegrates
provides a home,
or food,
or fuel,
or even just enhances someone's view,

While we --
who clutter up our lives
with bottles, cans and cellphones,
used equipment and containers --
cannot sustain
but only hoard;
fail to conserve
and litter pristine landscapes
with our old discarded toys.


* * *

Blue Reflections

Help me to remember
I am more than my reflections;
that my being has more substance;
and that my feathers, eye and bill
are not unique.

And may I also know
that the color of the mood in which I float
is influenced by the air I breathe,
the color of the sky,
and the richness of the ground below these rippling waves of emotion;
by trees and clouds and other birds,
by all that lives and moves
and has its being
in You.


* * *

That flame of longing

Something within,
behind the flutter
of color, light, and hope
watches gently,
blowing wisps of spirit
to rattle the pages
and hold our interest.

Something within
knows and fans
that flame of longing,
understands and accepts
that the anxious hunger
which makes us restless
also drives us forward,
ever deeper,
ever closer,
to that
which is also
You.


* * *

The tide will inevitably fall

When the water around you is rising,
Keep walking --
just put on your boots,
'cuz the tide only rises until it falls,
and it will,
inevitably,
fall.

As long as your boots aren't leaking
and you've got warm dry clothes on your back,
you built your house
on the high, dry ground
and there's water and food in your pack,
you'll survive til the water starts falling:
just enjoy the reflections and splash
cuz the tide only rises until it falls
and it will,
inevitably,
fall.



* * *

A quieting acceptance

Though wind and waves
have pounded all night
at my beach and windows
I wake at dawn
to find the moon
still beaming there,
throwing smiles across the rough-hewn sea.

Though chaos reigns
in noise and the harsh slap
of water on the logs,
the wild debris of ocean
thrown ashore in churning abandon,
she watches,
so serenely;
a soothing and steady reminder
that there exists
-- beyond the howling tempests,
the turbulent chop of stormy seas --
a quieting acceptance
of all that is.


* * *

Ordinary Wonder

Can it be
that all there is
emerges from this simple combination
of circle/curve and line,
of light,
and dark,
and color?
How then,
if that were true
could we ever declare
one combination to have
more value than another?
Surely one might be more pleasing to the eye,
but wouldn't that largely depend
on which eye it was
that did the looking?
Rather than comparing compositions,
Could we not spend our time in marveling?
How extraordinary it is,
that everything that is
is rooted in such ordinary wonder!


* * *

Some other ride

Sometimes
things that look
like they're designed to take off
are actually permanently grounded.
In situations like that,
you could always stay on board
and complain that it's not taking off
or you could choose to disembark.
Even if where you are looks nice and shiny,
and the slope away looks pretty slippery,
it may still be true
that you belong
on some other ride altogether.


* * *