Tag: seasons

Blessings

This morning, early for a plane bound northward,
I saw a flock of sparrows lost indoors
who landed at arm's length, then at a hair's breadth
above me soared.

And when I flew just lower than the angels,
so far and farther on my thinking sped,
I saw things clearly that 'til then were tangled
and wove their threads.

Alighting, I walked out into the forest
where fallen leaves red-carpeted the ground
like silk or cloth-of-gold laid out before me,
or dreams unbound.

How can it be that you are mindful of me,
as if your care were all for my delight?
How can it be, O God, that you so loved me
that there was light?

But so it is: I wander in your garden
and find at every step you've laid a feast.
O Lord, I did not know that I was starving
'til you said, “Eat.”

I take and eat, and you fill every morsel.
I drink the wine, and you run in my veins.
When still I thirst, this spirit still you pour so
in autumn rains.


More details

Roadway to Lindsey Lake in David Crockett State Park, located a half mile west of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. By Christopher Hollis – Own work. The image appears on my my website., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5509905

Peaches

The blessings of the Lord will come
as peaches weighing down the boughs
and bushels overwhelmed with plums
in summer days without a cloud,

as sweet as cherries on the stem
whose taste you long for all the year—
You feast on shadows until then
and wait while ripening time draws near,

remembering how the juices run
down chins, and lips and tongues drip joy
enough and more for everyone
in song and summer's feast employed.

That memory in you is wine.
Like summer rain, let it pour down,
distilled from every branch and vine.
You need not turn the world around.

The light will lengthen, fruit grow ripe,
and feast be spread beneath the trees
in days that know no hint of strife,
in peace beside the restful stream.

Though you are winter, spring will come.
Though you are barren, peaches grow.
The Lord will fill your hands with plums
in feasts beyond all you have known.

Still Life with Peaches and Yellow Pot By Pierre Bonnard – https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=139492, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70363945