Ordinary beauty

Perhaps, as John Cowper Powys suggests, 

Life would be sweeter 

 If we could learn to appreciate — Even enjoy — 

The beauty in the ordinary, 

So that even a trip to the mailbox 

Becomes a pleasant excursion…

Fire season

It’s fire season in our fair state, 

And though our little corner has been lucky so far, 

The major road onto our peninsula was closed 

All Thursday day and night 

For a fire that was finally contained 

But still burning when we drove out Friday. 

And so we were doubly grateful

for last night’s rain…

Seeking answers

Like the squirrel who leaps into my fig tree 

To sample its wares, 

We sample the answers 

 The world has to offer 

To the questions that trouble us most: 

Why, and what if, and how did this happen, 

And what might I do 

To accept or improve circumstances?

Simple pleasures

Let us never be so carried away 

By life’s trials and tribulations 

 That we forget to be grateful 

 For the simple pleasures that can greet us, 

Even in our darkest moments.

Abstraction

Abstraction requires a tolerance for ambiguity; 

An ability to live in a world 

That cannot be reduced to black and white 

Or right and wrong; 

Where one thing merges into another 

And the underlying understanding is 

That somehow, somewhere, 

Beneath all we know to be separate, 

Everything connects in mysterious ways.

Outshone

Who notices the moon at her slow rising, 

When the sun is filling the sky with color 

As she drops below the horizon? 

And yet it is the moon 

Who so bravely blesses the darkness, 

Sharing what little light she can muster 

With anyone who seeks it.

Peaceful reflections

Peaceful reflections on a sunny summer’s day 

Help us set aside the troubles of the world.