Overheard at the Lake

The conversation carried around the lake,

as it does, clearly heard on a dark spring night;

perhaps they’re unaware of its reach,

or don’t care, a message meant to be heard,

announcing themselves, seasonal neighbors coming back.

It’s a dialogue of changing pitch, softly heard or screamed out,

one to another, echoing, an eerie warbling, mournful even,

a yodeled welcome to spring, and the summer months ahead:

as anticipated, the return of the loons to Hebron’s Lake.

That Which We Are

We were young, once, full

of shit and wonder, wondering

the big “what-if” about ourselves

and we set out, alone, one foot

in front of the other; and in our fullness,

we discovered the truth, that which we are,

we are, just that, and thus we began

to find our own way through it all,

a journey to be more than just ourselves,

to be a part of a larger realm called living,

here now, right now, and becoming more,

older and wiser, experienced, grown up,

settled and readied by wisdom and age,

and returning home, giving back what we

have gained, what we have become, more

fully human in a more perfect world called humanity;

that which we are, we are, sailing now

beyond the sunset, weak perhaps by time

and fate, yet striving still, to seek, to find,

to be ourselves richly,

that which we are,

we are. 

Princess Dreams

The essence of trust

is the five-year-old little girl

you took to Disney to meet

the Princesses, the real

Princesses of story and film,

just as you had promised her,

and believing you that Cinderella

was Cinderella, live, in person,

and Snow White, Snow White,

because you told her it was so;

and how will you fulfill her

“happily ever after” in the Princess

dreams she dreams for herself?

Truth, like a Rose

The truth unfolds before us

when we go in search of it

like a rose opening up,

revealing itself and its beauty

amid the thorns and the blackened

buds of the feigned truth

of the wicked and deceitful,

thinking only of themselves.

After the Snow

After the snow,

the earth, like us, softens,

warmed by springtime’s

breath and the promise

of new life, green shoots

pushing through the once

frozen ground of winter.