Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

River

January 11, 2015

I found this in a basement box. Written in February, 1979 while we were living in Muscatine, Iowa. No editing or improving. A solo effort flanked on each side by decades of silence.

—∞—

Trembling in the early morning sun
Dewy tears shown with joy on the grasses
As breezes chasing the fleeing night
Shook them to the roots buried
Deep in the dark soil at the woods edge

A drop shuddered
Lost its hold
Fell to the ground
Others fell too
From the warmth of the dawn
Into the darkness close to the earth

Those near each other touched
Meeting … mingling … joining … pulling
Moving
Running … sliding … wandering … merging
Swelling
Flowing … splashing … scattering … gathering … rushing
Rippling
Slowing
Spreading … deepening … quieting

Light, shadows, birdsong
Peace
Solitude
Silence
Imperceptible movement
An occasional sparkle
A lonely swirl
Lingering from the touch of a willow
Drooping to the surface

Cottonwood fluffs suspended on the line
Between air and the green water
Warm beneath them
Hours had passed
The treetops felt the approaching noon
Heat from the sun arrested the breeze
Thickened the humid air
Trapped the rising vapors
From the river below


A locust’s call rang across a clearing
         and died away
Water drying on the sweltering mud
Left on the shore from a passing barge
Days had passed when a gull wheeled overhead
Salty water was closing in on our dewy wanderers
The sun had long since set
Last traces of hue on the western horizon
Gone
A horn warned of the approaching fog

© 1979 Thomas W. Cummins

A Rosey Hue

November 10, 2014
Outside the window
Just beyond the Amana clock
Stands a Japanese maple
Its fall array of colors
Brilliant in the early afternoon sun
Filling the corner of the family room
With reflected light
Touching everything
A rosey hue
Never to be reproduced
By our meager palette
 
© 2014 Thomas W. Cummins

Storm Remnants

October 4, 2014
—∞—
Like old crones
In tattered dark gray cloaks
Last night’s storm clouds
Shuffle off to the east
 
Hiding the rising sun
They prolong their gloomy pall
Leaving behind sodden leaves
Plastered against windows
Overlooking the slate-hued lake

Dancing Rose-Gold

July 29, 2014

—∞—

Each morning
Early
As though awakening
The lake
Comes alive
 
An opening movement
Two ducks
In formation
Quietly chatting
Whisk by just above the water
 
A single gull appears
Overhead
Looking, searching
Its wings
Pink with the rising sun
 
Far off
A loon begins its day
Black-green head
Sharp, wet bill
Glistening
 
On the bunkhouse wall
A dance
Rose-gold reflection
Sun grazing the water
Finding its way into the room
 
A noiseless waltz
Sometimes partnered
Leaf shadows
Gentle
In a morning breeze

© 2014 Thomas W. Cummins

A Cabin Breakfast

July 27, 2014

—∞—

image
 
Throwing a pattern
A window-paned pattern
For sixty years
The sun has been invited in
By the yellow Cosco table
Brightening a cabin breakfast

© 2014 Thomas W. Cummins

 

Thoughts swirling high above politics

September 30, 2013

—∞—

 

My T-shirt for today put me in a reflective mood.

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