A Summer Passion

The spring passes into summer

The wet changes to dry

and buds to leaf and flower

Beach dunes are bright with yellow

The lowest tides reveal 

rich brown algae

 with welks and anemonies among the rocks.

I feel the penetrating warmth of the July sun.

The brilliant Goldfinches, 
so quick to flee,

are now pursued by fluttering young.

By my ear playful hummingbirds 
burr and buzz, 
hum, chatter and click.

An evening chorus of feather and song.

Even after the Robin sings, 
after twilight falls,

the soft rising spiral of the Swainson’s Thrush song,

fills 
a solitary heart
 where once was two.

I am caught mid-passion
 in summer lushness,

sad to see
 the swelling tomatoes,

that too soon 
a summer’s end portent.

The Flowers of Fall

The simple pleasures of  August, 

 the new green leaves,

The rein orchids, 
found above the firs,
 in high oak meadows.

 Seaside cliffs show
 the pale green of maiden-hair ferns,

with crisp white lichen,
 next to brilliant patches 
of moss and sedum.

In the coastal forest,
a single delight, Moneses.

On sandy shorelines 
the migrants come
 to join the September harvest

This year a rain brings 
blossoming fungi,

brilliant and exotic 

in their floral beauty,

Sometimes strange in form,

brilliant in colour,

Some are choice for the palate,
others for the eye.

One twilight evening
in a frost-chilled forest,

a perfect silence descends

and leads me 

to a shelf of Oyster Mushrooms,

still perfectly frozen.

Now darkness emerges
from deep green forest lairs,
where
 in silence, 
keen eyes and ears

follow my path.

A New Spring

The Spring 

is a new morning 

that is fresh from a night's rain.

 

The birds now

bring the Dawn Chorus.

To me 

a welcome invitation 

to lie in bed and listen

To crisp bright song, 

a joy,
 a sensuous promise,

a primal pairing

of touch,

of warmth,

and an assurance 

of love. 

In the forest,

the flowers arrive

 like old friends,

The lush new leaves erupt

and spread their palms

to catch the sun.

 The warm days welcome 

a tidal exploration,

a discovery

of all

 the tide has left

behind.

The wet season

This year,
 the dry of summer followed deep into fall,

the green and gold of harvest and late flowers held on

 

 

 

while the last of summer birds wait

 

and watch.

And then,

the dry creek's torrent

 

and the rains fall

bringing Pagan Earthstars

and Honey Mushrooms

that appear

under tiny Mycena perched on limbs.

Brilliant in the darkness, 

a Dyer's Polypore is a golden treasure.

 

A time of life and rebirth 

among the fungi and lichen.