Bluebird clutch waiting
New life grows inside blue shells
Nature’s poetry
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Waiting to Come Out
New Growth
Nature’s Breakdown
Nature recycles
Changing matter never stops
Just like you and me
Even solid rock
crumbles… flakes away in time
Just like you and me
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Beauty in the Aging
Today a lone monarch visited my flowers, sucking out the last drops of nectar. I was excited to see it, since I didn’t see any all summer. The Yellow and Black Swallowtails were here, but no Monarchs. I got my camera and snapped away, as it enjoyed what is left of my Zinnias.
Summer has finally come to an end, and a lot of my flowers grew fungus and mildew on their leaves. The leaves deteriorated and dried up starting at the bottom and going up. But, with a couple of late summer rains, and a little watering from my rain barrels, my Zinnias continue to grow. I also have been cutting off seed heads as the flowers petals fall off. This stimulates them to keep putting out new buds. Although the bottom half of the stem looks dead the top continues to bloom. Some have now reached a height of almost eight feet! I see beauty in the flowers and also in the drying stems and leaves. It reminded me of the stages of life we all go through and that beauty can always be found even as we age and come to the end of life.
In the Fall of Life
beauty is found in aging
Blooms shine above pain
Bottom Leaf
In an everchanging world, I find myself struggling with the way in which things are moving! Life goes on whether I want to come along or not. As I watch the struggles of social groups and see the injustice that has long plagued our country’s history, I wonder where we are headed. History like politics has very dark times. We can embrace it, be offended by it, or attempt to deny it, but it will always be there. As the next generation comes on, I hope they learn from history instead of repeating it. I pray that we can all learn to live with each other, allowing for our differences in values and beliefs without feeling like we need to impose ours upon everyone around us. Uniqueness has always been our strength!
Sometimes I feel like the bottom leaf of a plant
Birthed from seed // providing sustenance for a time;
Now eclipsed by more recent growth rising above…
Providing new solar sources to feed from…
Obsolete // no longer making that much difference.
Never meant to shine or blossom // I’ve done my job…
Supporting // nurturing new growth and change;
Yet, now that life has grown beyond me,
I am here // drying up at the bottom of the stalk
while growth and reproduction of values and thought
happens above me // in a world very different from mine.
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Lone Crocus
Touches of spring come up out of the ground, reminding us not to despair. Warm weather is just around the corner. I saw this lone crocus shining in the pine-bark mulch along my sidewalk. The tiny green sprigs accenting the egg-yoke colored blossom is a joy to see. The daffodils are already starting to bloom as warm southerly breezes continue through this week here in North Carolina.
Sunshine pushes through
Defying winter’s cold chill
Letting the chips fall
*****
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Reminders of Spring
The warm days over Christmas have given the flower bulbs a jump start. I saw these daffodils pushing through the ground in my flower beds. It was a pleasant reminder that winter will not last long and spring is on the way.
While we celebrated with family and friends
Daffodils remind us the seasons never end
New growth has started generating new flowers
Pushing through the ground with warm sun and showers
Many cold winter days still to come
Plants will shiver as they wait for more sun
So… if January days give you the blues
Remember that spring will be here on queue
iPhone Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Laid to Rest
Leaves are laid to rest;
Blanketing the ground around the stones
of those already laid to rest.
Golden brown they fall
scattering in the wind // drifting gently;
A covering for those who have already
passed the winter of their life…
and those who left much too soon.
Soon the oak will be bare of leaves
its branches reaching up toward the blue sky.
Standing tall and stately over the cemetery
it knows when Spring comes
new life
will be drawn from its roots.
And, when this winter is past
it will put out new leaves
that will, once again, shade those
who have already been laid to rest.
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
I am also posting this for d’Verse Poets Pub open link night.
Join us at: https://dversepoets.com
Nature Returns
Last fall the gas company cleared the right away behind our property. I was sad to see the trees go and the topsoil removed. They buried a twelve inch natural gas line and then covered it over with the original top soil. A couple of months ago they planted grass over the whole thing. The attempted to leave the natural wet areas unchanged, leveling and covering it with mesh netting to protect it. The grass grew and the natural growth came up through the mesh. Today I found wild flowers once again blooming. Nature’s resilience is amazing.
Whatever we do
Progress scarring the landscape
Nature blooms through mesh
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Spring Flow
Summer moss is gone but water continues to flow
Winter rains and excavation changes everything
Environmental efforts try to preserve the wetlands
April showers turn flow into flood as a result
Water recedes leaving fresh green growth among the rocks
Natural flow continues to wind its way to the pond
Nature recovers // flower pods form // wild flowers bloom as usual
Dead leaves compost
iPhone Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Crusty Bark
Today I am trying something that Amaya, from Gospel Isosceles, came up with after reading my post on Five Loaves and Two Fish. She thought this would be a great new form of poetry, to write with five syllables in the first line followed by two syllables in the second. I love the idea, Here is my first attempt at 5-2 poetry. Give it a try. You will like it!!
Crusty Bark (5-2 poetry)
Crusty bark split open
Painful
Yet necessary
For growth
Crusty old fellow
Hates change
Set in his old ways
Boxed in
Lying in that box
Ashes
Waiting for new growth
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Check out Amaya’s beautiful post Serendipity that she wrote to illustrate;
https://gospelisosceles.wordpress.com/2017/12/19/serendipity/
