A New Poem

natural awe

the world is green around me
and i hear the gentle whisper
of the wind in the leaves

it speaks to me –
telling me to
watch and listen

watch –

listen –

the cricket’s music
is a sort of basso continuo
to the trilling birdsong
the hoot of the owl
and the scampering claws of the squirrel

an old railroad track winds through
the undulating countryside into the distance
veiled behind lush foliage growing
along the accompanying ditches

the setting sun is a
vast pregnant orange globe
on the purple horizon
golden light streaming through
tender leafy boughs

a great winged bird soars
high overhead
outstretched wings limned
against the pristine blue sky

the yellow-bellied woodpecker
performs a drum roll
for the purple martin alighting on a
nearby fence post
while barn swallows and field sparrows
dart and play among the trees

a mallard launches itself from the
surface of a small reed-fringed pond –
its wings beating fury into the air
as it skims the sprouts and stalks rising up
from the murky green water

all this i stand within –
woven into this tapestry of life

watching
listening

overcome not by the beauty of it
but by the fact that it exists at all