Tuesday, October 20, 2009

love fain would hold them fast

i went for a walk in the woods and on the way out i came across this,
the sorry remnants of part of our community garden.

but.

there's promise in the soil.
that will wait
patiently
through winter's blasts
and spring's caprices.

as will i . . .


a song of summer days

as pearls slip off a silken string and fall into the sea,
these rounded summer days fall back into eternity.

into the deep from whence they came; into the mystery--
at set of sun each one slips back as pearls into the sea.

they are so sweet--so warm and sweet--love fain would hold them fast:
he weeps when through his finger tips they slip away at last.

14 comments:

Kathleen said...

Yes -- "so warm and sweet" -- what would we do without the rhythms of nature?

steven said...

hi kathleen - it's hard to imagine the warm rides of the summer when i slip on all my layers to keep warm in the early morning chill nowadays!! have a lovely day. steven

Titus said...

"promise in the soil" I loved. So true of so much of life, thanks steven.

steven said...

hi titus - it's so much about cycles and the passing of time and patience and trust in the benevolence of the creation!!! steven

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Steven: Nature is continually providing us with metaphors for life. So much slips away - the seasons, and the sun every day slips away. And we take our rest confident that it will rise again tomorrow. Our life, too, will slip away as the new season of children slip in to take over for us. Slip, slip, slippin' away.

Anonymous said...

This is very nice, Steven.

ellen abbott said...

Most people don't see the beauty and promise in a garden or field gone to seed, the dried remnants of the glory of summer.

Reya Mellicker said...

Ah Steven, summer will come again. It will.

And, too, fall is a great time to feel nostalgia, for whatever it is we long for.

Golden West said...

And another summer will return us, even more quickly than the last!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes steven - the gardener knows only too well that the "sorry remnants" look pretty awful at this time of the year - but they know that all kinds of things are going on under the ground - and at the right time wonderful things will emerge as they do every year.

Pauline said...

there is beauty in the sorry remnants though - as well as a promise.

Jennifer said...

I think we may be going through the same bittersweet emotion of Fall - that combination of loss of those lost pearls of summer days slipped into the sea and joy of the beauty of the season right now.

I loved the poem.

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed the Virna Sheard poem.

The community spirit is still alive in your garden. It will hide prey from the owls and winter hawks. The remnants will protect little critters and keep them warm, away from the cold winds of winter.

Thank you for sharing these pearls of summer, Steven.

Crafty Green Poet said...

there is a lot of sadness in autumn but a lot of beauty too