bare branches yearn
silver birch buds tightly furled
winter sun teases
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Category Archives: Photography
Centered Haibun
Centered, definition: adj., emotionally healthy and calm; emotionally stable and secure.
I learned to pray as a small child by placing my hands flat together, closing my eyes and bowing my head. That ritual helped me focus, set aside distractions and center myself. In yoga, I took quickly to prayer pose, which also uses hands placed together, head bowed and attention focused.
In prayer pose, I hear my breathing, like the waves of the ocean, calming me. I observe the movement of my rib cage, expanding, contracting, and I consciously deepen my breathing, holding it after taking a breath in, for a few seconds of stillness. I learned to focus my intention for that class: to set aside worries, to lay down burdens, and to think only of the needs of my body for those moments.
prayer pose
thoughts echo and grow still
breathe out worries
I haven’t been to a yoga class in years, but I had inspiring teachers, who were generous enough to help me design a home practice. I still practice yoga, and I am so grateful for it.
Prayer pose lets me feel close to the divine, for in the stillness and focusing of my mind I achieve calm. I hear the voice of the universe only in quiet moments, external and internal quiet.
tree pose
branches lifted to the sky
blessed by rain
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Linking to Haibun Thinking Week 8: Freestyle Week. A Haibun is prose, culminating in a haiku, often written of a moment along life’s journey.
Reference: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/centered.
Red Fairies Hiding Haiku
fairy closes cape
transforms into red berry,
vivid chrysalis
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
The Thaw has Come!
The sun is shining,
Clouds dispersing,
Snow is melting,
Hearts are singing!
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Life is a fairy tale! Have a great weekend!!
Warmly, Brenda
Fairy Garden Joy
Happy Birthday to you!!
Fairies came from far and near
To celebrate a birthday dear.
Some pictures here do show
That love, joy and cheer did flow.
My daughter’s face did shine
When on fairy cake her friends did dine.
After dancing, the day was done,
All Fairy guests had lots of fun.
We hope your day is magic, too.
For if it isn’t fun for you, then who?
Now my fairy tale is all told,
Soon other magic may unfold.
The In-Between
It’s in the in-between
that the real magic happens.
The seeds are planted,
the roots take hold…
and we blossom into who
we were meant to be.
~ Kristen Jongen
Twilight is an in-between:
Familiar shapes become strange,
Small things fly past and depart unseen.
Even colors seem to change.
Night swirls her midnight cloak;
Her crimson gloves leaves smudges
Of rosy beauty for all commuter folk
To brighten evening trudges.
I throw off my worries of the day,
Set all the heavy burdens down,
Ponder curves rounded on my way
And turn problems upside-down.
This is the right time to plan:
In between the days, one fading,
Streetlights glowing cyan,
Morning’s possibilities parading.
Tomorrow is soon enough
To take all my troubles up,
Even when the pressure is rough,
I embrace this magic time to sup.
Sips of sunset’s beauty rare
Behind black bare-branched trees.
Sweet robin has a song to share.
There in twilight I find ease.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Thanks to Theresa at Soul Gatherings, who first used the above quote and renewed my interest in the in-between.
Reference: http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-nightingale-and-other-night-singers
Grumpy in Paradise
Grumpy was overheard to say: “Flowers! Where did these come from! What a nuisance! They are making my brother sneeze!”
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Old North Wind
Blow old North wind,
Your icy breath is a knife,
Storms have twinned,
Roads bisected by slushy ruts.
Sturdy New England folk
Might be down in the mouth;
Monotonous gray skies invoke
A temptation to head South.
Forty days to the solstice.
The sun is headed this way,
Eventual defeat to cold paralysis.
So we will wait it out, come what may.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Captured for the First Time!
Used with Kind Permission of Tracy at Wanderlust
Never before photographed in the wild!
The elusive, secretive Ice Snails —
Ice Snails clinging
Before the big race
Little hearts singing
Hoping for speed and grace.
Cloaking devices active —
Only frost fairies see snails —
Rainbow refractive.
Snails leave glistening trails.
One will finish first,
Blest by the Frost Queen,
Putting on speed in a burst,
Winning rights to preen.
Fairies celebrate with hot cider,
Made from Autumn’s windfalls,
Berry tart and mushroom slider —
Feasting and fun within Fairy halls.
No wild life were harming in the making of this post. 😉
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Inspired by Tracy’s Ice photographs at Wanderlust. Check them out, they are awesome!
I’ve got my Eye on You
Anybody seen my other eye?
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Weather Witch
Tempers ran high when the snow started to fall.
Frog would not come out of his palace at all.
Orla Fairy drank cup after cup of tea.
Jake the Forest Snip, belligerent was he.
Down the slippery village road he stalked.
Approaching all the closed doors: Bang! bang! he knocked.
A Siberian tiger paced and snarled,
Snow piled onto his fur, nails old and gnarled.
Forest Snip banged on the Weather Witch’s door,
Calling out, “What are you thinking, you great bore!”
“You tell her,” said the old tiger with a grin.
“Stop your banging!” came a shrill voice from within.
Out with demands came a magnificent mouse:
“Stop making a racket in front of my house!”
“We all talked and decided, it would be spring!”
Jake the Forest Snip’s words had a rousing ring.
Fairy Orla put down her tea, now resigned.
Outside, she said: “Mags, an accord was designed.”
“Don’t you dare call me Mags,” the Weather Witch grumped.
“But why did you change your mind? We are all stumped,”
Fairy Orla inquired. “Dear, we all see snow.”
“Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, you know!
How can I ignore that?” asked the Weather Witch.
The tiger’s black and white striped fur gave a twitch.
He growled: “Don’t tell me we have to wait six weeks!”
Fairy Orla sadly brushed snow from her cheeks.
“All this cold for a Pennsylvania rodent?”
Fairy Orla snapped, ending quite despondent.
The witch scratched her mouse whiskers with tiny nails.
“There might be a way, but if done wrong it fails.
Gather some helleborus, ginger root, moss,
Shrew coat clippings, raven feathers, grassy floss,”
The Witch listed, hugging her pink coat tightly.
“Gather all that, my friends, gather it sprightly.
A brew will I prepare that will end this storm,”
Gravely she spoke, looking at snowflakes, forlorn.
All but the ginger root came quickly to hand.
Not one could be found on fairy village land.
They bartered for roots with five passing tinkers,
But Forest Snip lost them dicing with drinkers.
Now all were snarling at Jake the Forest Snip.
He left to go south on an extended trip.
More and more snowflakes drifted quietly down.
“Each thing has its time,” quoth the mouse with a frown.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Beauty in the Broken Places
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
— Leonard Cohen, Anthem
Read remaining lyrics here.
Read remaining lyrics here.
The broken parts have the deepest beauty.
A road is just a road until you stop and see a turtle hiding.
The crack in perfection is where new life takes root.
Magic is in how you look at things.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Friendly Fairy Tales 