Autumn Comes

Magpie Tale 239

Over the trees the wind whistles

Rain dancing down from the darkened sky

And the leaves quiver in fright

Not one wants to leave the branches

Green dreaming, but they have lost

Earth colored now they fall

Echo

for the Honeybee

Calling to the sky

the voice leaps from the mountain

calling to the sky

rounding back with its cry

dancing through the waters

up with the steam it whirs

calling to the sky

Stained Glass

for dVerse

The sun

Shines through the glass

Tracing bright patterns on

The floor in red and green and blue

Falling down like magic. Changing the room

Into a chamber of wonder

Filling eyes with delight

Do you see them

Glisten?

Staring wide at

Those ancient glass windows

Catching and holding slippery light

Suspended in black frames by human hands

Faces staring down while we stare up

Caught ourselves in wonder

By dancing light

Golden.

Pearls

for The Honeybee

white birds

sitting like a strand of pearls

pulled from the waters

placed carefully in a line

with a green satin backdrop

pine needles waving in the wind

Seeker

for the Honeybee and dVerse

for the unicorn seeker

as you search the clouds

and the ocean waves

rising dancing streams of white

your eyes search every

view for the elusive unicorn

they say there is no unicorn

why then are you a seeker?

peering through tangled branches and every

dream caught against the sky’s clouds

hoping for a glimpse of a dazzling white

mane falling in waves

light and frothy like clouds

then you’ll know a unicorn

and reach to touch the horn white.

the journey is long seeker

many have sought and only seen clouds

straining their hearts at every

wishful thought and every

false start gone like the waves

yet still they look to the clouds

for somewhere there is a unicorn

so are you willing seeker?

to spend your days in search of white?

and when your hair turns white

and you see yourself in every

young and youthful seeker

till sighs come out like waves

to think they might see a unicorn

while you saw only the clouds.

but did you not see in the clouds

the horn spiraling white

and feel the eyes of a unicorn

brightly shining looking back at every

believer through the ocean waves

and know that he too was a seeker?

and when at last the clouds part every

elusive white horn through the waves

of a unicorn’s mane will be before you seeker.

The Wind's Isle

for the Honeybee

Sunlit pines mirrored in the lake

In the ripples they slowly quake

While wind rustles through the needles

Touching my face as it blows by

Gently rocking the dock while I

Hear the calling of wild gulls

The calm wind lulls me so sweetly

Greeting me like a lost friend she

Braids and weaves through my chestnut hair

Then dips through the lake and soars high

Playing with the gulls in the sky

And I sigh for such days are rare

The sun shines fair warming my smile

Here on the isle in the wind’s care

Castle

for the Honeybee 
and dVerse

Stones reflected in the

moat. Ancient stories blurred

by water soft and deep.

Old tales forgotten, yet

whispered through the quiet

ages. Calling out, but

leaving something unseen.

So let the harper play

Singing of those long lost

Days. Shadows dance upon

the stones. Past heroes come.

Forgotten tales renew

memories rise from the dust.

Unseen yet remembered. 

Fairy Vale

for the Honeybee

While wondering through a fairy vale

Sunlight splintered by the pines

Fairies led me down their secret trail

Fairies flew through the trailing vines

I watched the dance from shady bough

Sunlight splintered by the pines

Standing on the mountain’s brow

Sheltered in the valley’s clasp

I watched the dance from shady bough

I heard their silver songs and my own gasp

Among the fruits and flowers they called me friend

Sheltered in the valley’s clasp

With a thousand sights that cannot be penned

I walked there a year or more I cannot tell

Among the fruits and flowers they called me friend

I had no wish to wake from their spell

I walked there a year or more I cannot tell

While wondering through a fairy vale

Fairies led me down their secret trail

Porch Light

for Magpie Tale 236 and the Honeybee

the first moth spreads wings

under the moon but it sees

only a new sun

they fly too close by

modern light

irresistible

light in dark

led them to dance here

but where next?

light flickers

the porch light burns hot

banning night

   

eastward sun rises

scattering moths with the wind

porch light sleeps till night

The Flood

for the Honeybee

The two sisters had been sent on a walk after trying their parents’ patience for half the morning. No sooner had the rain stopped than their mother turned them out of doors. Now they were trying each other’s patience. Ten-year-old Rina, dressed in a tunic and leggings wanted to explore. Her older sister, Amethyst, walked slowly, trying to keep her silk skirts dry. When they reached the flooded bank near the river, Rina promptly began splashing in deep puddles.

            “Come on, this is fun!” cried Rina scampering through the water.

            Frowning, Amethyst backed away from the water and shook her head, “Come back Katarina. It isn’t ladylike.”

            Rina only splashed further into the flooded plains, blithely ignoring Amethyst’s cry of “Come back!”

            Happily, Rina waded through the pools left by the incessant rain. The water quickly rose to her waist and then to her chest. Sometimes she tripped and had to swim. Once she lost her shoe when she stepped into a big hole. She had to dive for it to retrieve it. It was a good day.

            Suddenly hands grabbed her and she was lifted out of the water. Rina screamed and kicked.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” asked a low voice.

            Rina groaned as she recognized the captain of her father’s guard – and her sometimes bodyguard. “I never get to do anything fun!” she whined as he set her down on a very solid and not flooded patch of ground. The captain sighed. Keeping the Baron’s daughter safe was not an easy task. Rina complained all the way back to the castle.

            Rina was severely reprimanded by her father and her mother, but she made no attempt at contrition. In exasperation, her parents locked her in her room to learn the error of her ways (with guards at the door and below the window to prevent her from sneaking out.) Rina spent a very long time in her room.

            But even years later when she understood how rightly worried her parents had been, playing in the flood was still one of her favorite memories.

Fishermen's Prize

for Magpie Tale 235 and the Honeybee

Murky waters under the boats

Sloshes around and through the nets

Salty spray lands on the men’s coats

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Glimpses are caught of the pale fish

Pulled white from the sea with the nets

Piled around their boots to perish

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Seagulls break the air with their trill

Diving for the fish in the nets

White birds also have bellies to fill

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Dark waters cover the white fish

Below hides the fishermen’s prize