Seaweed makes shapes on untouched sand,
Messages left by mermaid hand?
An undersea meadow has drifted to shore,
I could wander there evermore.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Tag Archives: Poetry
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.
Cairn for the Sea
What offering can we leave the sea?
It has no need of you or me.
The moon can draw forth the waves,
but you and I are but slaves.
Inner anxieties diminish and worries
Lessen in the ocean’s furies.
Peaceful watching the water’s play
Is how I would spend my day.
And yet some sign of thanks are needed
For the peace and joy received.
One of us begins to stack a tall cairn of stone,
With each large rock lifted, a groan.
Each helps and with our effort, fixed on creating beauty
We fulfill our remaining duty,
To show our appreciation for this untamed land
Which gives peace and makes lives grand.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: I dedicate this post to the Artists for Peace, who are trying to make the world more peaceful, one beautiful piece of art at a time. We need more art, more peace, and less war and violence. The first link will lead you to their page of topics, the one for this August being friendship. I chose a topic of thankfulness, because I am thankful for our earth, and I wish to be its friend. I would like to spread a love for our earth’s wild places. If you click on the Artists 4 Peace logo, it will take you to their home page.
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
Heart Tree
ancient fires
burned deep into the heartwood,
yet the tree lives on
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Path to the Clouds
sweet raspberry brambles
dusty trail heading straight up
wildflowers dazzle
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Rose Petal Path
Another might have taken the path less traveled,
I walked the path strewn with rose petals.
Perhaps the roses faded, and the petals blew away,
But each step crushed the scent into my fiber.
That day has made all the difference to my life.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
References: The path referenced in the first line is from a famous poem I will reprint here, courtesy of The Poetry Foundation, with my own yellow wood.
Note: The poem is dedicated to my hubby, a fine man in every way. I’m also posting it in honor of my hubby’s friend who is marrying tomorrow.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Fairy Ballerinas
Arms curve gracefully,
Petal skirts twirl open in full circles.
Heads dip, legs stretch,
Fairy divas grace the garden,
Entrancing bees and butterflies.
Magic is scattered by dance.
The four winds lift the ballerinas high;
Down they touch, light as kisses.
Too fast for the eye to follow,
Fairy smiles unfold like wishes.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Orange You Blue?
Don’t be sad, don’t be blue,
The whole world is blooming, just for you!
Life might be hard, it might even be grim,
But the music of flowers is like a hymn.
Magic surprises await you here and there,
Under the stars, in the sunshine, everywhere!
I choose to greet magic with a saucy grin.
Gossamer castles built by the spiders’ spin,
Bluebells, lavender, and tiny white lily of the valley bells,
Daisies, Coneflowers, Foxglove: therein magic dwells.
A shady bench, a fragrance sublime, a reverie,
A friendly fairy, that is all I need to be happy.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Fairy Ball Gowns
Once upon a perfect night, unclouded and still,
there came the face of a pale and beautiful lady.
The tresses of her hair reached out to make the constellations,
and the dewy vapours of her gown fell soft upon the land.
Designers of fairy couture collections
Grow the very best gowns ever worn,
Lacing perfect petals into dashing confections,
Borrowing starlight to gild and adorn.
Queen Peony, in her ball gown,
Casts the smaller ladies into the shade,
When she dances, in her shining crown,
Hearts are kindled and dreams made.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
References: Brainy Quotes
Mushroom from Nature’s Loom
Woven in layers of filament fine
Is the broad capped mushroom,
Regal and proud, a fungus shrine,
From tiny spoor to fruit of gloom.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Friendly Fairy Tales 