winter scarred, care worn
gazing at eternity
lion without pride
remembers school vacation
three playful cubs squabbling
Copyright 2015 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Hurray for vacation week! Tomorrow is the Boston marathon. Hope you all have a great week. Be healthy and be safe! Warmly, Brenda
Fairies rocket down the Three Tree,
On zooming toboggans, happy as can be.
Can you see them tumbling and swerving?
Oh to be tiny, magic and free. Yearning.
Copyright 2015 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This poem is offered as part of Poetry Friday. Thanks to Elizabeth Steinglass for hosting this week. I am out of town, but I will be back in a few days. I look forward to catching up with all of you when I’m back. Warmly, Brenda
Note: These photos are for the Daily Post’s weekly challenge, Angular. What does angular mean to you?
Echinacea seedpods,
Ruffled and out of sorts,
With your cat faces,
Squashed by snowy caps.
Snow is still thin,
Yet will come thicker soon.
Eventually you will win,
Another spring will come.
Your roots will labor and birth a
New crop of seed pods,
Born to wear snowy crowns.
So the seasons go around.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Tiny baby tree,
No higher than a fairy’s knee,
What do you see
In that pool of black tea?
Starting out small,
That’s true for me and for all!
Good luck to you,
And to all the other tinies, too.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
“He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep.
Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart,
he had become a dragon himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
He napped on the wealth of the world,
The heart of the wildwood beating in his ears,
But his sleep outlasted the wood itself.
Over the years, earth and twigs covered him,
Turning his sunny glade into a fairy mound.
When he woke, his scales were soft as bracket fungus,
And his hide was frayed like the bark of a fallen spruce.
All around him, houses stared down with blank eyes.
A bridge crossed a brook where children swung on bars,
Screamed and chased each other around plastic cars.
The sweet smells of red woolen sweaters, sticky candy fingers,
Grilled cheese breath and ripening juniper berries
Teased his nose, so different than leaf mold and lichen.
He remembered the beating of the wildwood heart,
Loud as thunder, steady as rain, but he could not hear it.
His greedy heart stirred. His claws churned the earth.
Clink, clink, his treasure was safe. Gold gleamed below him.
Its musical ringing soothed him. He remembered winning it,
When the forest were young, kings foolish, and no amount
Of stone or brick could hide the scent of gold from him.
His youthful memories brought dreams and in the gloaming,
He dozed again, his green eyes dimming, his breath stilling.
The woods would return one day: the seeds were there.
The day of the dragon would return with the wildwood.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Were you the kind of child that imagined dragons under the hills and fairies inside the flowers? If not, maybe it’s not too late to be that child now. What would you think about, if you were a dragon awaking in suburbia?
So many names, how can I choose?
Wild bachelor’s buttons,
Cornflowers,
Blue daisies,
Ragged sailors,
Chicory.
Your delicate, blue petals tremble in a breeze,
Tough stems stretch toward the sun,
Blue eyes open for one day only.
You are called hendibeh in the East,
Witloof in Belgium,
Succory to the Romans.
So many names, one humble flower.
Some say you open doors, deep magic.
I try to see through your fae portal.
You open to the sky, following the sun.
Some call you a weed, some add you to salad,
Some roast your taproot to balance coffee.
I’ll call you a wildflower.
I’ll admire you on the wayside,
A flower more ancient than humankind.
Your humble eyes look beyond me,
Your roots are in the distant past.
Perhaps your soft blue eyes
Will smile on my grandchildren,
Long after I’m gone.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This flower is chicory, a common wildflower all over the world, used as an herb, a coffee additive and its many names inspired this poem: blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, bunk, coffeeweed, common chicory, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor’s buttons, wild endive, witloof
Salty breezes lift away cares.
Color spills across the water,
Too intense for the sky to contain.
Horseshoe crabs dance a blurry ballet,
Twisting and turning in the gentle waves.
Seabirds swim quietly, at peace.
Twilight wanes, in-between day and night.
Summer is ending; school is about to begin.
In-between holds powerful magic.
Tomorrow seems far away,
Yesterday, a pleasant, hazy memory.
The right-now is a time of beauty.
Fleeting, but all the more precious for it.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Happy Labor Day Weekend! This sunset was photographed on the West Dennis Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Punch of peach,
Late summer bloom,
Labored year round,
For this shining moment
At the end of summer.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Happy Labor Day to all those in the United States!!
Note: This bloom is a daylily of a most unusual shade. It looks like a rose, doesn’t it?
Notes:
This is a visual haiku, or a picture that suggests something that is missing. The small leaf that left its impression is long gone, returned to the soil. Yet, its mark lingers.
For other examples of Visual Haiku, you can look at Grandeur Grown, Robin’s Egg, Shadow Painting, Tenacity and Come and Gone.
This post was inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, and the prompt: Texture.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
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. 🙂
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
Friendly Fairy Tales 