Express everything just like Mother Nature, she does
not hold back! Her beauty lies everywhere, if we
but observe outside the concrete and steel jungles
humans have built to house their billions; though some
cities take the initiative to preserve islands of green
here and there, these animal bodies love it best
when surrounded by substances they, themselves
are comprised of, though the mind-centered focus
humans have held now for centuries craves a false
order, and nature’s dominion threatens those who are
accustomed to the clang of routine, staying busy
with small details absorbing a ceaseless inner chatter,
subsuming it with a unique sort of din meant to drown
out internal chaos, moment to moment, until sheer
exhaustion segues into sleep, only to jangle awake with
the screech of an alarm if the mental hamster wheel
rests that long;
Here in the mountains night creatures roam, day has not
yet stretched rays of sunlight over the land, birds are still
tucked tightly into tree branches, tiny beaks buried in fluffy
breast down, eyes closed as they breathe in rhythms
too subtle to notice, dreaming dreams we cannot fathom
while elk roam open fields, grazing on dew-laden grasses
and cattle doze in groups meant to protect them
from predators while tiny rodents gather seeds
and detritus to kit out their burrows;
When winter ice has broken, snow opens into flowing waters
that gather into dry gullies that swirl in streams seeking
rivers which yearn for the sea, if humans have not drawn
them dry before the cycle is completed, while buds collect
like tiny dark knots on tree branches, and I water deeply
with the hose, creating a false spring here in the high
arid country, shaking shovelfuls of manure into driplines,
trimming dead growth meant to protect tender new shoots
during the harsh cold of a long winter;
Awaken now the glorious pale rose of day, as the planet
rotates her face nearer the sun and we await the light
too many take for granted, while life still thrums
in soil and sky, the milky way hidden now from view,
yet always there, moon and stars, and the yawning
blackness of universes beyond.
Mr. Peanut loves the water! ~ bj 2023