Sheltered by the cliffs

The people of long ago

In their sacred place

 The buck stops and stares

His ears twitch at the thunder

Then he bounds away

 A soft constant rain

Murmuring through the forest

Drips off my hat brim

 Reflected heavens

In a motionless puddle

Fortunate array

 Arriving at dawn

I kneel at the garden’s edge

Homage to the spray

 As winter invades

Elk and bison dig for grass

The wolf grows stronger

 Diaphanous verse

Beyond its transparent lines

A voice of its own

 A simple game trail

Leading where there is water

 Made of spoor and tracks

 The clouds hangin' low

Makes me want to poke the sky

See if it will rain

A mudlark at heart

 I spend my days foraging

Relics underfoot

 Scent of juniper

Blankets the flowing piedmont

Above the valley

New capacity

 Deprived of speculation

No longer wonders

 No need for mankind

For the health of the forest

Death - rot - fire suffice

 find complete darkness

where the stars are unabashed

all light from heavens

 Arranged in a wedge

Geese gallop across the lawn

Gaining speed - airborne!

 Neither ebb nor surge

The tides in me pacified

Slack water stillness

 Resting on the porch

Old Raymond sips his lemonade

Leans to pet the dog

 Havana

From darkened windows

They can see the bodega

And wait for the rice

 as i read it now

i have underlined my life

the best parts dog-eared

Too old to forget

 The lads we send off to war

Too young for regret

 A person should read

And hear a comforting song

For respite each day

                                         The revenant nest

Undone by last summer’s gale

Ospreys undeterred

 Barefoot in summer

Ice cream cones and piggyback

Reaching for bubbles

 And then he wondered

Could that have been what she meant

Or was it nothing

 Is there ideal love

Beyond the acts of loving

Does it live without

 It is the same trail

An elder pine has fallen

No heed for my way

An archival oak

Spanning over lives and years

Lynchings and picnics

    250

Which truths are self-evident?

What unites us now?

 The length of my life

Is trifle when compared to

The length of my health

Issue of the fire

An omen of smoke and ash

Plume of nature’s rage

History in wood

Written with light and dark rings 

Thriving - suffering