Do you feel the shift?

Love is in the air.
This winter Valentine day.

You can see it in the red patches of snow
where female bobcats coming into heat
have left their mark,
a card, of sorts, for the males to read.

You can hear it in the birdsong
as they start to shift from hushed winter calls
to soaring love songs;
or in […]

For the snow lovers among us
these past weeks have been abundant.
Even a little too abundant
as we look in vain for places to put
the next shovel’s worth of bounty.

It’s exciting and exhausting
exhilarating and relentless.
Wet heavy snow stuck to the trees
then froze in place,
weighing down every single branch,
bending them into trails
we had already diligently cleared
and checked off […]

Seeing Solstice

There is a pause now
this quiet Solstice time
before light slowly lengthens.

The temptation?
To count the days.
To hold our breath
until daylight stretches into evening
and early morning forces back the darkness.

What a relief it will be
these light-starved eyes
to see again
no longer fumbling in darkness.

Still,
somewhere deep inside
past resistance and reason
you know this darkness, too, is your home.

A place […]

For the peace and promise of a sunrise.
The quickening of breath that comes
when we take in the beauty of our surroundings.

For the mystery and humility
of daring to see how we are all connected.

For the opportunity, over and over again,
to choose joy.

For waking up every day to the unknown
and the courage to walk into that day.

For […]

Leaves Take Flight

It is the season for letting go.

A time when even trees move
bending and swaying in the strong gusts
adding their whispering song to the wind.

Leaves touched by autumn’s cool hand
let loose from sturdy branches.
Taking flight, of all things–
a wild dance in all directions.
They land finally, amidst their brightly colored companions
only to scramble on the […]