I had a dream last night
I dreamed that my path
Was paved with gold
Overhanging branches
And lush bushes
Had been all trimmed back
My shins no longer scraped
Against the stinging nettle
My ankles no longer rubbed
Over zealous bushes
The twigs and decaying leaves
Had all be scraped away
Leaving me a path devoid
Of all natures beautiful wiles
Maybe it was a nightmare
Shocking me to become aware
Of our battle against
Sweet Mother Earth
It wasn’t too long ago that I
Wandering through fields waist high
Came upon one friendly blade of grass
That spoke to me in old English decree
Thus like:
Forsooth it is thy jolly Lombard
Erect in flight of recent folly
That doth not retire grand ambition
That doth not spare no damsel plight
Amongst thy gallows of conquered fate
Whence settling down amongst thou bromus
He contemplates his recent fight
And not one hour should pass thy penance
When thou stumblt upon a gift that gave
So lovely displayed be suit noble court
Of kindly and jolly King Edward the IV.
And in this gift so deep a sentiment
Earl Warwick, himself! ere be knelt
The gift to seekers shall be found
Not in man’s work but in mankind
Thou gift is also found upon
Thy brow of revelations crown
And to this joy that I’d now found
While wandering to and then to fro
Reciting, by name, the grass that grew
Here I would learn to love anew
I had a dog – a great dog to do him right
A dog so valiant he was my brother
A dog so honorable he made me proud
His sticks were always the biggest sticks
That the forest could offer up
Two lengths wide; head held so high
That was the kind of dog my dog was
And when you threw that stick for him
There wasn’t another care in the world
Bounding over logs and through tall grass
Around small trees and through thick brush
I would let him come upstairs
Sit by my feet as I worked away mine toils
Especially with loud thunder
Shaking yonder hills
I can still clearly remember when,
As a young pup, I tried to acclimatize
The tiny dog to a perch on my bed
He grew so fast and at first chance
He jumped from those heights to
More stable grounds below
He made friends with all the other dogs
He was loved by all those who knew him
His heart beat so true none could deny
His kind, gentle demeanor as he prodded on
Hardly a pup could try his strong patience
But let’s not be fooled that when needed
He wouldn’t take much testing
From neighborhood mutts
It is uncountable the amount of times
He would scare away a bear, herd away a moose
Scamper after a fleeting deer through long grass
Or jump at the sound of the resident squirrel
Sending him high in branches of his tree
He would lose himself in the forest tracking a scent
Only to reappear down the trail looking for me
He had his friends that roamed the trail behind the house
The young girl down the road and her witty sled dog
The Germans and their duck dog, oh what a pair those two made!
One that couldn’t stand a loud sound
The other that lived for the sound of a shot!
Or the wolf hound three doors down
And the proud girl with her border collie around the bend
He was a great dog, the dog that I had
When I returned home, his tail would knock
Over anything near, excited yelps uncontrollable
He would always put his nose between your legs
Slowly walking through as you scratched him down
When you got to his tail, his legs would go weak
For it was there that gave him infinite pleasure
I will miss the dog that I once had
A great dog, a brother of mine till the end
I will miss him more than the trails we used to walk
Or the seasons we’d always play
I have a root to survive
Digging deep;
A watering cloud’s soul mate
A soldier of faith
Upward momentum
Reaching forever more
I like the words tree of life
It weaves its way around my mind
Like a healthy vine
Working its way eagerly
Around any healthy hosts
I always picture it standing
In the middle of a field,
A marvelous spectacle out there
Silhouetted in the morning sun
Full plumage, healthy bird culture
I always feel at home
Under the tree of life
The grass is always greenest
Roots are always thickest
Qi is always fullest
Don’t throw away my misery as if I’ve been kindly handling your manner for years
Respect it and covet it like a well worn lawn mower, hardly spewing black smoke
And dance around it with spears and face paint while chanting god-speek
Because if you, for one single moment, think the moon will set before the deed is done
Then you’re sadly mistaken, sadly believing in mystics and chimera
Barking at the moon fully loaded for bear with a hand down your trousers
While the children of the night roll around at your feet, stretching for answers
Into the pale night skies pockmark’d rivers of darkness
Don’t let me be, standing here against the cold wall of ancient growth alone and heavily breathing
Listening for forgotten sounds to ring alert, echoing in the night
A calming sensation growing up through my spine as anxious boils over into my thoughts
When the dagger begins to sink into it’s last goodbye
And I the wild wonderer
In peace’s embrace
Sharing splendid solitude
With sunset’s hues
Tickling my toes
With warm lapping water
Pants then be rolled up
To half mast thy knee
And off in the distance
Summer night noises ring out
Young men of mischief
Swamp frogs lament
Bat fluttering hither
Mosquitoes racing thither
And across the calm lake
In desperate moments of light
The last mooring boat
Settles in for the night
Campfire left smouldering
In the wake of many (hot)dogs
And I, toes now dripping
Make my way to slumbers edge
Beyond and beneath as I sat in the grass
Life was a flowing, amongst and along
Where once was a bumble bee
Soon came a mosquito
And the common house fly,
Pestering without biting
Towards the South was the valley
China Mountain loomed beyond
Green as the grass grew
They sky was as blue
And the purple lupins
With orange poppies gathered round
Mixed with slowly dying purple irises
With forget-me-nots galore.
Tramping around and around me
Going back, to, and forth
Was a fresh set of legs
A young border collie named Tex
Oversized collar and curious nose
Up and to the left now
Then back over he’d go.
Pansies along the railing
Painted clay earthy brown and red
And above it, the birdhouses
Two up there now
One rotting and perched
The other one newer
Enough for just one.
The big fir yonder
Was home to the blackbirds
They built in their nests
They grew their young offspring
However you look at it
They were encroaching on the squirrels
But that battle was lifelong
An act of natures wiles.
While sun started setting
Shadows became long
So sitting on the grass
Was no longer in the leaves
And off to the dinner table
To dine and try cards
And just like the sun’s retreat
So was the warmth
Buzzing invincibility
Exposed skin
Little white ichy bump
My feet, stripped and bare
Cooling in the fresh mountain stream
Two dogs about me
Shaking away the fresh feeling
Water, licking my shins
And getting colder
Fresh scent of the familiar
Cloves and horse shit
But it’s summer
And this is the stuff that feels good