Witness sky’s moods
lightning flash sews
black cloud to dark horizon
distant sea turns toward edge
of this round world
Watch from hilltop Eden,
hour by hour
day by day
again and again
absorb her colors and whims
scratch-dance of palm against rock
melancholy minor chimes
improvise a child’s tune
to accompany the thunder.
Rain engulfs ocean now in
a wide wet embrace
purple-blue-green moisture
unites sea and cloud in one.
Tea steeps, warming bowl.
Golden noon turns to premature dusk
shocks even the orange hibiscus into its hugged cocoon.
Gale whistles the flags, the fronds,
edges of the garden grass
Watch motionless, a charge passes through,
exits, sweat through porous nature.
Light shifts, day evolves, wind lifts,
storm changes, imbibing all in quiet reverie.Sparrows alarm—
air stirs timeless molecules, miniscules,
labored into now
from where blows this fierce wind?
night moth on stuccoed wall
motionless since Thursday
what can she be contemplating so diligently?
her past life, her present, her next one?
has she any other possibilities?
storm blows through
unstirring.
Look again, cloudbank has lifted
in motion, shifting –
everything stirs, settles, stirs again.
Beans boiling on stovetop
eventually absorb, soften,
come to rest.
Green crickets, beetles, tiny birds, banana palms,
raindroplets, chimes, distant motor, wind, surf,
boiling pot, dog’s whimper –
Mystical orchestra sounds
without cessation, accompaniment
to marvels of
the great silent Mystery.
Photo provided by the author.