The infant Earth
Burps up her core
Lays down a shield of stone
Comes the ice
With crushing force
Carves relief into the shield
Finally, life returns
In league with time and weather
Draws detail upon the lines
Here I stand
On ancient land
To capture nature’s beauty
Big bend in the river comin’ up!
No idea what’s around it
Can’t even see the turn all that clear
Or what’s just ahead fer that matter
No matter
We done plenty a these
Always works out
Usually fer the better
I suppose there’ll be
Remarkable new things to discover
Around that corner
All kinds of possibilities
Don’t worry none about the fog
Things’ll be clear enough once we get close
Just the way the corner up ahead
Is gettin’ clear enough to know the turn
Kinda pretty idn’t it?
The way the fog only gives ya part a the picture
Then just the green
Then trees and the cracks in rocky cliffs
Ya only get enough to know how to move on
With some foreshadowin’
Of just how beautiful it’s gonna be
When it all becomes clear
“Too bad about the weather,” she says
I’m framing a photograph
Camera in hand though not to eye, just yet
“Yesterday was perfect
Bright and sunny
Not a cloud in the sky”
I like today just fine, I tell her
As a frame begins to form in my mind’s eye
“But it’s so dismal and grey!”
Blue skies at noon
Are a bright, empty smile
She looks at me, head tilted
It’s a sky without character, mood
The light falls straight down, casts no shadows
Still the look
It’s dull
“You prefer dour to dull?”
I do
“Perhaps that says more about you.”
I smile, and nod
Half because, perhaps, she’s right
And half because I’ve found the frame
Camera to eye … click
I show her the screen
“Oh! That’s beautiful!”
Song of the sea
Caresses the shore
Soothes my soul
Sends me off to slumbers
Sun teases horizon
Gulls cry the morning’s alarm
Warm pastels ignite the clouds
Below wan blue skies
And I
Wakened from deep repose
Welcome another day
Of adventure in unfamiliar lands
The beauty I imbue
On moments and places
Of small consequence
Arises from my appreciation
For the beauty in all things
Golden glory of sunrise
Remind me
Existence is a miracle thrice
That there is something to observe at all
That there is something to observe it all
And that I am both those somethings
I cut a path through the long grass billowing
Well off the trail the others had tread
And composed there a scene
Few travellers would see
Footfalls through the dunes
Skies grey as the sand
And blackened monoliths
Tossed about like stones
From a small child’s hand
There, in the buffeting wind
Amidst the storm-sodden grass
Shielding the lens
From the rain and debris
I gathered dim light
Small hope had I
This photo could be…
Worth soggy shoes
And cold, wetted socks
My pants would drip water
Later
When twisted in knots
First, back to the car
All shivering raw
Engine now running
With hands to the heater
Hoping to thaw
Now months and months later
At home nice and warm
Editing photos I took in a storm
To my delight I discover
They came out… alright
Life
And Love
Bring colour
To the grimmest day
The sky like the snow
Sullen and sullied
The latter a victim
Of spring thaw
The collected detritus
Of winter storms
Revealed beneath
Retreating drifts
While the clouds
Speak with the voice
Of ill wind and
Malcontent climate
But the lake
Ahhhh
The lake sparkles blue
And even the worrying breeze
Does little but kindle its glimmer
A beautiful scene
After the ranger’s warning
There would be naught
But the clouds to see
Burned old crag
Half buried in the soot grey sand
Pitted by heavy rain
Issued from distressing sky
Black rocks
Tossed up on the shoreline
Decay in the surf
Still there is colour here
Kelly grass and golden straw
Life defies the gloom
Pix to Words 