fine golden dust
gilds the lily, draws wee folk
fairy footprints shine
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Tag Archives: nature
Scent of Morning
Fae Rose Fairy
With treacle, a radish and bee’s knees,
Fae Rose grew apricot roses with ease.
She turned away blight,
With joy and delight,
And her ladybugs gave aphids a squeeze.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This poem is a limerick, rhyming AABBA.
Japanese Garden Magic
Magic hides in the quiet spaces:
Weights lift in the greening.*
Tree branches and bark take shapes
In the corner of the eye;
Lights flicker like fairies dancing.
A turned head, and the magic’s gone.
An arched bridge holds infinite
Possibilities for revealing
Secrets, just over the crest.
Only children can climb it.
Invite the magic to sup jasmine tea
And nibble an almond sweet,
And soon the whole day seems a dream.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
* Note: This use of “greening” is meant to refer to the process of feeling younger in a garden, feeling the years drop away and spirits lift. Greening can be defined as the return to youthful characteristics.
Frog, Alone
Frog was completely alone! Toad was worried: was Frog sad? Frog answered: “I am happy. I am very happy. This morning when I woke up, I felt good because the sun was shining. I felt good because I was a frog. And I felt good because I have you for a friend. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think about how fine everything is.”
— Arnold Lobel, from Days with Frog and Toad, Alone
Today the sun was shining,
Breeze and sense of ease, entwining.
The frogs were swimming,
All the world was grinning.
Dragonfly fairies danced,
The scent of lilies entranced.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Walden Ponders
We can never have enough of nature.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Turquoise-tailed baby bluegills tickle our toes.
The scent of pine and wildflowers wafts to my nose.
Purple loosestrife and asters dot the green wayside.
Children splash, fishermen cast, not even fish can hide.
Green-dappled water buoys and refreshes tired mums,
Dragonflies eat mosquitoes, and ants carry off crumbs.
Thoreau wrote of being alone, but that was far in the past,
Instead lots of people hike, fish, swim, play and eat a repast.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Note: We visited Walden Pond today, and had a great time! I hope you had a great day, too. 🙂
Reference: Thoreau Quotes from Walden
Moonflower
Pretty moonflower,
Tattered and chewed,
Still you glow sweetly,
Each night renewed.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: I called this flower a moonflower, not because it’s the moonflower morning glory, but because it’s a flower I found glowing at twilight, under the moon. It’s a clematis. I hope my poetic license is up to date. 🙂
Seabird Sentinel
Seabirds dip and dive,
Catching crabs and fish.
A seagull watches children play,
From his lonely perch on the sand.
He lives always in between,
On the edge between sea and land,
Soaring far above them both,
Never joining in the games.
His hoarse caw echoes
Past the dry curls of seaweed,
Mingling with the salty air.
Sometimes, on the inside,
Each of us is like that seabird,
Watching others play,
Outside, on the edge of other things.
And yet, what would the sea be
Without the seabird, standing watch?
Each of us is needed, ever part and apart.
Note: I dedicate this post of all those affected by the two lost Malaysian airplanes, one found (MH17) and one not (MH 370). My heart goes out to the victims and their families. We are all needed, and their loss is our loss.
Stonehenge by the Sea
Rocks protrude, waves crash,
Mist embraces the shore.
What giant moved these rocks here,
To fight the tide and battle time?
This enchanted place calls to me,
Like Stonehenge by the Sea,
A crossroads between the past and future,
Nothing settled, always changing.
Even the sky changes in a heartbeat,
Water battling earth, air carrying their cries:
Elemental soundings, missing only fire.
Magic enfolds, perhaps the fire is in me.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Redwood Giants
Peace in the redwood forest primeval,
Cell connectivity is lost: thought without interruption.
Wandering beside ancient giants,
Glen temperatures were low and cool.
I gaze up to the sky, invisible under the canopy.
The tops of trees are lost in a bright, green blur.
My children and I hunt for gnome homes.
Dark places keep their secrets, as we stay on the paths.
Yet magic is in the very air, all things seem possible.
From the green twilight, we spy a glade,
Emerald grass shining with the first sunlight seen.
Surely the fae dance there, shimmering between worlds.
Notes:
Distances are deceptive in the photograph: the tiny bit of blue is a tall man, nearly swallowed by a distant curve in the path.
The oldest tree in Muir Woods is 1500 years old, born the year 514: it’s parent would have been capable of being born 3000 B.C., a distance in time to us unfathomable, yet only one generation apart in the forest primeval. Perhaps the spirits of the ancients still watch from beyond this world.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Visual Haiku: Grandeur Grown
Notes:
This is a visual haiku, or a picture that implies something rather than revealing it explicitly. To me, this photograph makes me think about the things missing: the tree’s connection to the earth and the sky. It’s so immense even the sun is implied rather than revealed. A camera can capture only a tiny section. For scale, I left a person in the lower right corner.
For other examples of Visual Haiku, you can look at Robin’s Egg, Shadow Painting, Tenacity and Come and Gone.
Edit, this photograph also dovetails nicely with Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which I have been admiring. This week is Wood or Season of Spring. Thanks for all the beauty you inspire, Cee!! And for the community you build and for all the FUN!!
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Heart Tree
ancient fires
burned deep into the heartwood,
yet the tree lives on
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Friendly Fairy Tales 