Soft moss and rosettes of lichen embroider the pebbled bark of this young dogwood.
Lichened Dogwood — An Image
Antique Cherry — An Image
The antique cherry wears a gown of quilt-worked bark.
Young Beech — An Image
A young beech gathers sunlight in its parchment leaves and whispers of an Autumn reluctant to depart.
Sunset — A Poem
The night sky bloomed
with color —
unexpected as song,
welcome as benediction.
Rapturous,
the descending hues
of indigo and blue,
rose madder and scarlet
kissed the fringe
of treetops gold.
“Hurry,” he urged,
so I ran —
down the walk
through the frost-edged eve
into rapidly falling dark
to stand alone
as the paean subsided
amidst soaring
cathedral
trees.
— C.Birde
Hickory — An Image
Arrow-tall Hickory pelts the earth with its potential offspring. In childhood, I spent many a day beneath just such a tree as squirrel or chipmunk or blue jay; peeling back thick, green, four-petaled husks till my fingernails were tarnished; cracking open the small taupe-brown orbs within; picking out and eating the sweet nutflesh.
Chasing Autumn — A Poem
Southward,
we chased Autumn,
through burnished, narrowed light
beneath an escort of sprung-coil,
gloss-winged birds.
We pursued Her flame-leafed trail —
a coy wink,
a sly step —
until we lost Her among
gnarled live-oaks
and regiments
of soaring,
sentinel pines.
— C.Birde
The Four Sisters — An Image & A Poem
The Four Sisters twine limbs
against the elemental sky
and weave roots
to part Earth
with slow and steady certainty.
They hold the memory of years,
of an age,
in their woody flesh,
girdled within their torsos
in concentric rings.
They do not complain,
nor pass judgment,
nor beg favor
as I pass between their knees,
beneath their shadow lattice.
Yet always,
they return my greeting in
their rustling,
multi-leafed chorus.
–C.Birde
Autumn Reservoir — An Image
“Autumn Reservoir” — C.Birde, 10/16/15
Slowly, the Reservoir refills,
its shoreline diminishing,
as a narrow ribbon of water twists
and dashes around worn-smooth stones
ordinarily submerged.
–C.Birde
North Bubble Hike — Images
Top of the North Bubble…
Swallowing Stone…
Leaning over Eagle Lake…
Looking back…
Roots hug Earth.
September 2015
The Tarn Trail (Kane Path) — A Truth
Boulders for stepping stones pressed
against the Tarn’s edge;
Smooth waters dimpled and pocked
with browned lily pads and
rusted grasses rippled
by insistent breeze;
Break upon woodland
of lump-barked ashes,
rough maples and fine-needled pines
lit by fleet, dappled light;
Rock- and root-strewn path
of hard-packed earth
carpeted with fallen leaves
undulating, wave-like;
The air, wildflower scented —
asters, goldenrods, and hawkweed;
Leopard frog amidst the leaf mould;
All sounds of humanity,
except our own,
fallen away.
–C.Birde
