Photography – Page 104 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

A Wet Weekend

Today, I’m glad and feeling fine.
My thoughts are cloud-free clear.
Tomorrow rain may soak my roots
Nourishing those fresh young shoots
While I am standing here.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “a wet weekend”. My weekend was more like the photo below than the one above, but they both have water in them.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I have been taking this past week morning walks starting around 5:15 AM to watch the sun rise in Techny Park (Northbrook, Illinois). Watching it rise through the trees and then being reflected on the pond has made me smile.

Reflected Sunrise

Morning sun in neighbor’s window,
Pond reflects the cloudy sky.
Should I search, distort the season,
Expose the surface, buttress reason?
Look. Stay true. Don’t fear the why.

Wind

A steward cares for what he does
Not own. And if we'd dare unwind
The miracle, perhaps we’d find
The sorry tale of who he was.
He left that, who knows where, because
The Spirit’s wind blew long ago.
Why did it come? He does not know.
He’s glad, more glad than anything
That used to make him smile or sing -
Across his life such breath would blow.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge. The prompt word is “wind” to be used as the rhyme in the second or third line of this ten-line poetic form having eight syllables per line and a rhyme pattern of abbaaccddc. I used it as “unwind” in the second line.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image — Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image

Forces of Nature

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “forces of nature”. The top photo is a storm coming in on the Atlantic Ocean and the bottom is Tennessee in the fall.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The weekly Smile. We took a road trip from Florida to Illinois over the past three days going from very hot and humid to still hot weather. On the way there we stopped at a beautiful rest area in Tennessee around the Cumberland Gap on Route 24. It brought back memories which made me smile. The photo below was taken in the fall a few years ago of that rest area heading south. Last Saturday we were on the other side heading north.

Story

Oh, that is a blessed story.
Defeated, now arise, renew,
Unchained, inspired, come ride on through
Darkened, deadly territory.
Everlasting praise and glory - 
How light prepares the morning's run
And nighttime rivals daytime's sun.
Breathing freely and rejoicing
Singing words we all are voicing
This story ends. It's never done.

Linked the Ronovan Writes where the theme is to use “story” and an A or C rhyme in a Décima, a 10-line poem in 8-syllable lines with rhyme scheme ABBAACCDDC with optional stanza break after the fourth line.

The illustrations are some of my photos while walking in the neighborhoods of Miami Beach. They may or may not relate to the poem depending on your imagination.

Facing Change

The change I’d face began to dawn
Though hidden by dark cloudy seas,
A flood with opportunities
That I would miss when I moved on.

They vanished when they saw I'd gone.
Why did I leave them? I don’t know.
I watched and waited, wanted so
To make it right, at last renew,
Have something in my hand that’s true,
But in the end I let them go.

Midsummer

Umbrellas aiming to the sky
Are open on the beach.
Some are yellow, some are blue,
Some are multicolored too,
Smiling within reach.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme “midsummer”.

Linked also to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I was wondering what made me smile this past week of midsummer and then our daughters texted me, “Happy Father’s Day!!”. There it was. That made me smile.

Green

Anywhere that green can grow
It sends its roots to make a stand.
It’s open to the darker land
Where roots grasp earth and do not show
While leaves enjoy the sun’s warm flow.

Red and other colors spill
Their envy on green's living will.
Love is what the faithful do.
Repenting helps the world renew -
Remove the rot, make room and fill.

Drum

The up and down of beating drums are heard across the lake
As falsehood twists the message and the drummers take no break.
The solid door, self-righteousness, defends. It’s locked to win.
Convinced that truth rests safe inside is where truth can’t get in.

Linked to dVerse Quadrille. Mish is hosting with the word “drum”.

Shadows and Silhouettes

The shadowed edge
Where dark blocks light
Shows warmth of day
On fading night

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “shadows and silhouettes”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The beaches opened on Friday. I waded in very warm water on Saturday, a beautiful day, and smiled.