When rain returns the barren land Is filled with blooms we all can see, A resurrection mystery, A pouring that we understand As blessings from an open hand. A year ago we doubted. Look! There’s water flowing in the brook. Those ways we’ve turned from have somehow Been transformed into nothing now Like drivel from an unread book.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use the word “look” as the C rhyme in a poem with rhyme scheme ABBAACCDDC.
An ordinary, tiny bug Lived on a painted wall. Before he died He tried and tried To understand it all.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of turning “the everyday into the unusual”. The photos are of graffiti on top of graffiti but viewed up-close. Although the messages were somewhat confusing even at normal distance the paint made the bridge over the brook in the forest preserve colorful.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I realized I made a mistake in my algorithm to verify the records in the 3x+1 problem and fixed it. My best time with the incorrect code was 352 seconds as I reported last week. My best time with the new code was 354 seconds. Although I haven’t repeated the runs to find the variance in these timings, I was relieved that the correction did not seem to significantly harm the performance. That was enough to make me smile even though I am still a long way from my 10-second goal.
I am grateful to Sammi Cox for publishing this story in Whispers and Echoes. Here is the submissions page in case you would also like to contribute to the journal.
“There isn’t much we mice can do.”
“Let alone one mouse”.
“What has a lion ever done for us? He’s probably trapped for a good reason.”
And so they tried to discourage Tamar from helping the lion escape from the ropes binding him.
“If you’re going to help him, don’t lecture him about his diet.”
“He might eat you.”
“Or smash you.”
Tamar recognized him. He’s the one who let her go. A quiet voice told her to gnaw the rope and then get out of the way.
So she did and when she did the other mice helped.
Linked to Carrot Ranch’s September 17th Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the theme of mice. This is a retelling of Aesop’s Fable of the Lion and the Mouse.
Dark witches of the winter know Some spells they heard in full-moon fall. Their Ba’al doesn't know it all. His shadows flicker where they go When morning light lets failings show. Those who wake in time may see How ignorance loves mystery, How feelings masquerade as good, How petty sins start ticking. Could They all explode mechanically?
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “fall” as a rhyme word in the B lines where the rhyme pattern is ABBAACCDDC. The photos are from around October/November of last year.
Slip from summer into fall. Then winter brings us cold, white days, But spring, that wonder of it all, Leads back to summer anyway.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Prompt where Dale offers the theme of “as summer fades”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It was raining this past week and so I worked on a puzzle in computational number theory. The challenge was to verify the 3x+1 trajectory-length records by running a different program to find them. Using Python my best time for integers under 670,617,280 had been over 700 seconds. Last week I was able to reduce that to 352 seconds. That made me smile. If I believe what others have achieved, they can do it in under a few seconds. That’s my goal unless it stops raining. Even if I get it below 10 seconds, it is about as significant as solving a 1000-piece jig-saw puzzle, but at least I will be able to verify the larger records that have been found.
I feel as if I ought to send A warning out to one and all: Beyond the bend's a cliff, a fall, A tragedy, a blur, a blend Into a gorgeous, awful end. And then inconsequentially What would become of you and me? Ah! Let it come here anyway. Yes, Come tomorrow. Come today! Embrace the opportunity.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “blend” as a rhyming word in the A lines. The poem has ten lines with rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.
Look up. Look down. Reflecting water shows The sky as all around. Morning sunshine grows.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “look to the skies”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It’s midnight. Soon it will be Monday morning. I can’t think of a good reason (that I haven’t already reported) why I’ve been smiling this past week. Being able to calmly watch the sun rise over the pond below is a blessing that reinforces the default smile. Although the August wildflowers are past their peak in the Forest Preserve, the forest and trails are still there and sometimes I am as well.
Blue on blue with patient blue Caressing me and also you. But should you say it’s red instead Insisting that I bumped my head, Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps that’s true, But I still see a pretty blue.
Linked to Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt. She provided the photo below for the prompt.
“No need to worry. You look good. You’re healthier than most I’ve seen.” His diet’s simple, conscience clean - Except when doing what what he would Instead of what he knew he should. Some end will come. Although he'd pay, No doctor then could make him stay. Perhaps today the ground will tip. On what’s unknown, his feet shall slip And then, like dust, he'd blow away.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the rhyme word is “tip” which should appear in a D line where the rhyme scheme is ABBAACCDDC.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 