April 10, 2026
Happy Birthday, My Dearest, T.

Otters Play Under the Herons


Clouds come in and out

water turns silvery to blue

and the titmouse just keeps

his voice like a high-pitched metronome.

I’ve lost sight of the otters.

Swallows hover over water

when the sun’s behind clouds.

Are insects rising? I’m unsure.

 

There is a gentle blanket

that wraps around my neck

during times of emotional rest.

It pulls up close over my shoulders

preventing too much thought

from filling up my injured brain,

protecting my heart from too much pain.

Woven from the natural order of life

resets my internal ecological balance,

keeps that large hawk soaring away..


If I am very quiet

they come close to me.

Focused on their activity

single minded care.

 

Single minded loveliness

drifting through tall dead cat tails

filling the space with gentle fare

otters come closer.

 

What have I to learn from this

each day after day?

I bring my swimming mind to

rest my eyes on God.

 

At least fifty swallows swarm

fifteen ducks feeding nearby

And heron sit on altars;

a birds' dance is mine.


poem from 2022 on your birthday and you were unable to read it.  

 
I overdid it yesterday.  I don't think I'm sick, I think I hurt and that I just need to push through everything and any thing, which is not true.  I mean, I don't think I'm diseased, although maybe I am, but I believe most of the pain is due to arthritic and spinal problems.  But the fact that there is kidney problems and that my heart is doing something different doesn't seem to add up to sickness for me.  Or the fact that my eye really does need this surgery and that I do deal with it daily doesn't seem to stick with me.  Nor does putting off a knee replacement.  I think I have an action plan to deal with it all competently so it should stop getting in my way and just let me move.  And then I think, oh if you just didn't eat so much.   AHHHHHH.


What I'd give for a pile of Oreos and a glass of really cold milk. Or, 2 slices of sausage pizza and a diet coke.


Didn't make it to the rookery today, but here it is 4 years ago.  

Apr. 10, 2022

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