Best Pastoral Poems
After the end of a long hot day
At the end of my rope with nerves all frayed
I sat on the porch to rest a spell
As the sun slipped slowly behind the hill
Calmed by the lingering after glow
I watched the summer night unfold
Crimson streaks...on a sky of blue
Melted in a thousand different hues
Got lost in the dark without the light
Leaving just their shadows in the night
And in fields of clover across the way
The crickets began their serenade
As fireflies danced with sheer delight
Glowing…in love with this summer night
And there ahead...at the end of the road
Above the bridge where the river flows
It rose like magic before my eyes
An orange moon so big it filled the sky
I wake—
each dawn
a slender promise
shoulders gilded,
by hesitant sun.
The world, wide as longing
real as the air I breathe—
crests of mountains waiting
horizons keeping their counsel.
My heart, uncertain…. ventures
like a melodic wind carried on—
searching for a sign
where wonder grows wild within.
Between the strums of my old guitar
and laughter in morning dew
I surrender:
each note of yesteryear
kindles today’s quiet lesson
A single osprey rises—
a brushstroke across blue morning
its wings folding around me.
The summit is not a distant peak—
but something brightening inside
Love lays a quiet hand
on places still becoming
healing as patient
as a meadow’s slow green showing
Each blade a testimony
to what endures.
From deep inside me,
between the first prayer
and the stillness after waking,
I find myself turning—
in the rhythm of becoming
the quiet rhyme
of being.
So I walk—
with songs for company
promises for courage
letting the day reveal its poem
one grateful step
where hunger and holiness
are the same ground.
Leaves have fallen around us throughout these many years
Mist has clouded our eyes with vapors of vast confusion...
No one told us then, how storms might come, how skies would gather tears
Or how the sun would often hide, and seem to disappear
Perhaps those years, might have done such harm, to have shattered our illusions
Instead, we lean into each other's arms, and will stay until conclusion...
________________________
For Alfred's Contest: ABC of Love
O ever changing sky, blue-gray and maudlin
your mood and unsettled ways, meld with mine.
Clouds seem but blemishes upon horizons
as weary as the soot smudged cheeks of urchins.
Bruised in hues at once fresh with pain and longing,
not yet healed by the riper rise of next day’s bloom.
O ever changing sky, the nascent forest’s buds.
Its lashes linger in the purple poignancy of dusk
and whip thy brow with thrashing maple limbs.
Eyeless vault of heaven cry for me, release my plight
erase with thy wonders this tattered visage so forlorn.
The sky of night holds many jewels of delight.
O ever changing sky, clear to crisper shades of sapphire,
ping with shooting stars and glowing diadems of light.
Let lavender blue soften my sorrows for I like Merope*
need Orion’s might to lift my heartache, to point the way.
May thy constant rebirth give hope which melds with mine
and brings a beauty brighter than your Venus** to the day.
*Merope was Orion’s star crossed lover.
**Venus is the Goddess of Love and the Morning Star
He ran the palm of his hand across the canvas,
Felt its soft, smooth surface, excellent fabric.
It was well primed with gesso, and he was sure
The end result would be an immortal masterpiece
The quintessential fragrance of daffodils,
a carpet of yellows in secluded woodlands,
new-born lambs on wobbly legs bleating for milk,
bees irresistibly drawn to luscious nectar.
male cotton less cottonwood trees flourish
as do the blooming peach trees erupting in fruit.
And birds flying here and there, chirping delightfully.
On one side a cottage, beautifully thatched,
with a rivulet wending its way from the water mill,
on the other, a bench beneath an alder leaf birch.
There sat a young maiden fair to behold,
on his knees was a young shepherd hand outstretched,
barely touching, proposing, as she smiles happily.
The painter looked satisfied. It had taken days
But finish it he did. The Museum would be satisfied.
After all weren’t all his vast landscapes immortal?
I like talking to the stars
They are the best listeners of my wars
Excellent keepers of my secrets
And so we know each others traits
They Comes every night to celebrate their height
Me being an audience lost in their show of light
Stare at them, get connect with them
They show me their game of shine
Some Twinkles, bright and dull as pine
All them together teach me a sense of life
Some shines some twinkles and some shoots
It isn’t mean i am less than you, it’s just i have my own roots
It gives me peace
It blows me down
It been soothing
When no ones around
Lost in them
Draw in them
Make shapes, faces or nothing
Feels Wonderful being drown in them
I like talking to the stars
They are the best listener of my wars
Sometimes we play hide and seek
When they don’t show up, i be a meek
And when they with their unusual friends
Let them call the clouds and so
Playing with my imagination seems to be end
Stare at them get connect with them
Ask them to dance in the sky again
They say today let it be mundane
Warm and humidity can be seen up there
And then i feel restless every where
Watching them, resolving their riddle, playing with them
It gives me mind
It makes time to run slow
It takes me away from the world
Where I always find me
Where i always love me
Where I don’t want to get disturbed
And where i love my life the most
I like talking to the stars
They are the best listener of my wars
I wait throughout the day to turn dark
So then the stars would glow
Cool breeze does flow
All that makes my mind blow
Smiling face and closed eyes
Dreams of heaven where i fly
Despite all dark I can see what i am
Fascinates me how i feel under the sky
Beneath a sparkling roof
All alone on the mat yet Never make me feel aloof
I do like talking to the stars
I do talk to the stars.
Perchance to take nocturnal flight,
where would wayfaring dreams land?
With the toss of a godly lot,
one’s fate is always seraphim certain
The place of destiny divine
remains a mystery to the pillow seeker
Cloud pillars of a dove climb
gives Urim oracle comfort
Leaping crisis hurdles
often causes one to spiritually stumble
Which turns a prairie task into a mountain
Allowing the sure-footed headiness of faith
to free fall into the patient bosom of grace
A prayer for those
Whose lives are thin
And shelves devoid of
Bread and tin.
A stronger prayer
For those who stand
With more than enough
In every hand.
For in God's Kingdom
Love is King
And generosity
The trendy thing.
There is no lack
Or chance despair.
No deprivation.
No hunger there.
In God's town..
No cupboards bare.
No hungry child.
No shadow there.
In the City of Angels
No fears you'll find
For hope and joy
Are all refined..
..by hands and feet
Of those who love
And serve the one
true God above.
So come on people!
Come and see
What God can do through you.
Through me.
It's Harvest
And in the Autumn glow
The words of truth are:
"Reap" and "sow"
For heaven need not
be a 'distant place'
If we love our neighbour,
At this time.
In this space.
So here's my prayer;
Dear God above..
Open our hearts
Through the power of Your love
And help us to see, every moment we live,
With the eyes of Your generous Spirit.
Teach us kindness.
Teach us to give.
For the path may be narrow
But our hearts can be wide.
Under God's season of plenty..
..and blessing
No-one can hide.
And in closing I ask
That I never walk by.
That I look that God given task
Square in the eye.
Keep me soft in the heart
Never letting it harden.
That the Eden we seek
Is right here in this garden.
THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD GAVE!
Looking out life’s window,
Trying to find out why I am so sad and down.
I don’t blame the Lord for my struggles.
I know strife in life is there.
If I did not live a meaningful existence, life would have no meaning at all.
So maybe I am stretched to the limit but I will never give-up.
Standing, I pillar because I am my self-worth.
To those that suggest a difference, my earthly work magnifies who I am.
Justifying my subsistence, my affluence is only a gen.
The knowledge this provides is of a greater acumen.
May I say that living is first and utmost privileged circumstance!
The Lord is my keeper and to him I give honor and respect.
In this solitary world, we seek companionship.
We go through situations in our relationships and may lose focus.
However, the Lord is there for us in our time of discontent.
Regime is formed and we mindset.
Our spirits are inner cored for fulfillment.
There is no greater cohort than the Lord’s intellect.
I know because this mountain I continue to peak.
Without question, I am profound in my belief.
That the Lord is the keeper of my faith and mankind is the persuader of a different way.
In joy, I laugh aloud.
I am not blind to the lies of mankind.
My footsteps are admin to the all-powerful.
This day is given by The Almighty God.
Do I hear an Amen?
___________________________________________________________________
Penned On January 11, 2015!
Earth flesh
Sun chakra
Skeleton moon
I STEP down from the boardwalk and into a land moved by the forces of the universe.
I feel the earth move under my feet as I walk on mountains crushed to grains of sand by these forces and the passing of time since the birth of planet Earth.
Ringing in my ears, beating in my heart, running through my veins - the thunder of an ancient drum as the ocean rises and falls to the will of the wind.
I mark my passing with footprints in the sand while my mind empties itself of everything but this moment.
I walk toward a purple line in the distance, yearning to know what is there...yearning to touch it.
I lean against a warm wind that blows away the ribbons from my hair and all the troubles of a world gone mad.
~~~
Moment-by-moment... time becomes a thing of the past as I reach for that purple line.
On and on and on - I walk to the beat of that ancient drum - through the wind and ocean brine - through the setting of the sun - ON AND ON AND ON. Still, its seems I'm no closer to that line.
~~~
As the moon begins to rise, I turn back.
~~~
My morning footprints have all disappeared. The forces of the universe have erased every trace, I was ever here.
I STOP... and look up at the moon and all the uncountable stars that hang there ... motionless among the endless galaxies, over an ocean now at rest.
AND IN THIS MOMENT... I AM ONE WITH ALL THERE IS...AS I STARE INTO
THE FACE OF GOD.
~~~
Written: February 17th, 2016
Elaine Cecelia George of Canada
The Farmers prayer
Tired days and prosperous nights
Stretching forward like an endless flight,
Towards the hour and through the night
In cascades of energy and bursts of light
My day is drained I long for night,
Give me rest from my toil
The power to rise and till my soil.
The butterfly, it flutters by,
And yes flutter is the word--
For butterflies don't soar or buzz
Like other bugs, or birds.
They dance upon the summer breeze
As they flit about the air--
For a garden sweet, is incomplete
Lest butterflies are there.
But who knows whence they travel,
And who knows why they stay--
Perhaps they come to court the rose,
Or about the flowers play.
The monarch and the Morpheus,
And the other species too--
They cause the spring to sweetly sing
And enhance the lovely view.
So perhaps I'll find a garden,
And should fate allow it so--
Then I might see, the tissue she...
Flutter lightly to and fro.
The Butterfly Flutters By Contest
Sponsor: Kelly Deschler
05/22/14
From deep beyond the canyon rim,
Appearing at first night;
The moon appears upon a whim
And relays its borrowed light.
Then rising there above the knoll,
Through wisps of misty white;
The moonlight falls as flakes of snow
Upon the countryside.
~M
There is a special banquet
that shall be held for a King
Everyone shall receive an invitation
they are sent daily
directly to you
not to look in your mailbox
for He shall invite all
even those without an address
He says come as you are
no need to go and buy outfits
for He shall take notice of the inside
The address will be given
when you receive your invitation
for it shall bring guidance to find His home
no device man has created shall lead you there
no need to worry about transportation
all will be provided
will you come to celebrate with the King
there many shall praise and sing
Once you have opened your invitation
and know this is for you
Then this is how we shall be made acceptable
for we shall not make it on our own
but to become less of what the world teaches
and become more like the King
The King shall be at the door
at this banquet only He shall let you in
he has provided a way for all to have access
but many shall refuse and be left wandering
Will your name be on the reservation list
to attend The Banquet
This is the one invitation not to look past
for those who enter shall be home at last