For NaPoWriMo 22, a poem celebrating Earth Day.
Homecoming – tanka
It is always pure
pleasure. Walking on grass, leaves,
the bare-bodied earth.
As though my body-soul knows
it has come home to Mother.
~~~
Tag Archives: ode
NaPoWriMo 8 – My second skin
For Day 8, an ode to my house.
MY SECOND SKIN
My house bathed in moonlight, rests,
silent and welcoming,
and I breathe love into its spaces.
It seems a reflection of me,
the way the furniture is arranged,
the chairs facing each other.
Do they talk among themselves, I wonder,
in the stillness of the night,
picking up bits of broken-off conversation?
Does the warm air twirling up the stairs,
or the slippers, discarded, under the bed,
remind it of us, when we are away.
Do the walls rejoice with the tinkle of laughter,
does the carpet hoard shards
of my shattered dreams.
Does it feel protective, caring,
shielding us from wind and rain,
silent witness to silent pain.
Content, replete, joyous,
I settle into its calm stillness,
and it wraps itself around me.
~~~
Ode to a birdcall
…
A single call it was –
four fluid notes falling
lucid and luminous
into the silence of the valley.
Maybe the bird was declaring
the departure of daylight now
crowning the edges of leaves
in brilliant swansong.
Or maybe it was light itself
tinkling out a farewell,
a limpid promise of returning
on the wings of dawn.
The silence was somehow sweeter
as though the call after falling
had burst into a million pieces
of joy. And spread across the valley.
Into which sparrows had chirped
and other birds chattered and
the winds that chased each other
had seemed somewhat raucous.
Alas! The bird had flown,
to fill some other valley
with its luminous song.
Or just that light had died.
But even though the night
had crept up sombre with
its shroud of darkness and
promise of shady secrets,
I sat wrapt in rapture, lit
with joy, changed forever by
the touch of a beauty so
ephemeral, yet eternal.
~~~
~~~
For dVerse Poets Pub Microworld Poetry
Ode to a white mug
It had almost been
a wedding gift,
this mug, milky white,
not quite translucent,
with traces of tulips.
The husband had said,
“The green one is mine,
you can have this.”
Our first sharing, perhaps,
apart from the rings.
Morning after morning
my lips curl around
its glistening, curving rim,
like a secret kiss.
Steam and smell
serenade my senses,
as liquid flows into me
like a warm caress,
wiping away troubling,
traces of nightmares.
I had taken it with me
on a holiday once,
lain it among my clothes.
The thought of drinking
from a strange cup
had seemed askance.
Like wearing
someone else’s clothes,
or waking up to find
a stranger in my bed.
As I hold in now,
seeping in its warmth,
I begin to wonder.
Have I ever seeped out?
My breath whispering,
dissolving into those curves.
If someone were
to take it to their lips,
would it sing out to them,
my sonorous secrets?
~~~
For the dVerse Poet prompt ‘Everyday objects”
Creative February 28 – Ode to summer
Today is officially the last day of summer.
An ode seemed the best way to say goodbye…
ODE TO SUMMER
Summer,
spreading, sparkling, sunlit
seduces me into her simmering haze
until I rise
a glittering mote
into her expansive golden arms
her warm pulsating heart
It is easy to lose myself
all sense of identity lost
in the frenzied heart throb of a season
where all things rise to greet the sun
In one unending exultation
Summer, queenly, majestic.
as though Spring, that debutante princess
having strutted her freshness
of tender leaves and sprouting seedlings
has ripened into a delicious woman.
Who has wrested the secrets of life
from harsh Nature and
having won the battle wears her success
in medals of ripening fruit
lush dresses of deepening green
her hair adorned with flowers,
and tiaras of butterflies, bees and birds
Brazen and wanton,
laughing at her celestial lover.
Summer,
when Nature breaks the cold cruel curse
of winter and offers a blessing
a reward for patience
a medal for forbearance
pinned to Earth’s breast
throws upon it
a congratulatory cloak of verdancy.
Summer,
the season of the cicada
who shedding its shell
rises in the hundreds
its ululating mating call
frantic and fervid
the ultimate ode to summer
~~~
Just Joyfulness 