The male Hine’s Emerald patrols his cattail fen
low through sedge and seepage
his compound eyes pluck gnats from the air
two yellow bars flash along his thorax
hindwings catch the morning
Chimanimani Mountain mist beads over quartz
the female Rock Threadtail
six black feet braced on the edge
her wing tilted toward the sun
eyes—black
He misses the gnat
darts, veers, halts midair, pivots
his ommatidia fixed on her raised wing
smitten, his heading shifts
the female Rock Threadtail rests above her stream
=======
A drop of velvet forest caught in stone,
A secret green that ancient woods have known.
Deep in the quiet earth it guards its light,
A frozen glimpse of spring in endless night.
Within its heart, a fracture softly glows,
Where hidden silk and mossy gardens grow.
It breathes of morning dew and shadow deep,
The sacred vows that silent mountains keep.
The stone of hope, of rebirth and of grace,
Time cannot dim the magic of its face.
A timeless spark of nature’s royal art,
Held fast within the emerald’s green heart.
Onyx heart oh how it breaks
Red eyes cry painting face
Indigo tears feeling blue
Given best years to you
Amethyst soul once had hopes
Melted away like candle gold
Innermost turmoil loss of sleep
Hope a red river draining me
Emerald eyes that hypnotize
Accompanied by lavender lies
Ruby words that flatter me
Turquoise bird flying free
neat emerald dove
loves fallen fruit on the ground
agate color breast!
An emerald behemoth starts
to ride
From dark, abyssal,
labyrinthine caves,
To cut across the pale,
autumnal skies
And rule the undulating
realm of waves.
It bears the heavy, multi-
layered weight
Of architectural and sunken
ships,
A powerful, predetermined
fate
That seals the coast in cold,
metallic grips.
It curves into a cavernous
design,
A translucent, iridescent ring,
A temporary, fluid, silver
shrine
Without an earthly palace or
a king.
The sudden architecture
starts to fall,
To leave a flat, geometric
hall.
Mint string unthreads along the shifting hues
Blue drips through black in slow unsteady ways
Green murmurs rise as broken colors fuse
Thoughts dissolving in the emerald haze
Ravished by a spiritual hyena
Amethyst cries hunting in greener
Pastures where your violence lingers
Evil emerald eyes of black dreamers
Your City
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seven Emerald Hills
Seven emerald hills rise steeply
From restless waters born of moving ice
Siblings of a greater peak
Lifting up their faces into rains of shrouded mists
Or bathed in welcomed sunshine
The First where stately mansion homes
Climbed to heights now holding healing hostels
Looking toward a Beacon,
Watching Rainier’s changing face,
Holding hands, across a valley cleft,
With the West where Alki shores
Welcomed the first footsteps of settlers
Looking across blue waters where ferries play at
Mistaken Magnolia blossoming with madrone
Not bowing to Queen Anne, counterbalanced,
Winking at Capitol, with shady streets
On a broad way above the lake
Looking north to find a learned Crown
Mourning Denny’s passing
Where offices now scrape the sky
Remembering a Yesler skid row, algorithms,
A pioneer square, a needle touching space
Slumbering in the shadows of a Sunset
Where seaplanes play with seagulls
In summer Seafairs and rain festivals January to December
leaden clouds disperse
by grace and awe enlightened~
bathed in golden bliss
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A single ant, black as charred bark,
parts the silver skin of the puddle~
its legs dimple the water,
each step a tremble of tiny ripples.
The leaf, wide as two ants side by side,
rides its back like a ship’s wrecked sail,
tipping with the weight
of a world too large to name.
Legs piston through water,
dark and wide, a sea to him,
with this leaf, his bride.
Each step is a tremor in the tiny world.
A current whispers, but the ant
does not listen.
Shadows of giants loom above~
a boot, a wheel, the indifferent sky.
The ant pauses, antennae tasting fear,
then presses on. The far shore
is a myth worth drowning for.
Halfway, it pauses again~
not to rest, but to recalibrate,
rearranging the world
one stubborn millimeter at a time.
The wind’s rough tongue licks at the load,
yet still he drags his emerald barge
to the far shore,
to dry earth.
The far shore is everything.
Drifting
on a vast ocean
emerald spangled
calling to celestial plains
of the lost citadel
where forgotten tribes
communed in radiant silence
and telepathed secrets
beyond the mortal prophesies
of sages.
The morning wakes in a bruise of gold,
where the mist is a ghost on the clover's breath.
Listen: the soil is a riddle untold,
of roots that dance in the face of death.
It's a green so loud it rings like a bell,
vibrating deep in the hollow of the wrist,
a story the ancient mountains tell
through a veil of silver and river-mist.
A fiddle's bow biting into the string—sharp, resinous, and wild.
A sudden fracture of sunlight through a heavy rain, turning the hills into shimmering glass.
The cold, damp weight of a wool sweater and the electric hum of a crowded room.
Its not just a color; it's a fever of the spring, the snap of a Guinness, the smoke of the peat.
It's the heavy, melodic weight of the ring, and the thunder of boots on cobblestone Street.
The air is thick with the scent of the rain,
tasting the salt and the coming of light,
a celebration of joy carved out of pain,
burning emerald-bright through the heart of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There once was a squirrel named Maureen,
Who traced her roots back to Eire's green.
With emerald pride,
Her fur she dyed~
Now she reigns as forest’s Emerald Queen!
Emerald green feathers ~ vibrant and fanciful hummers have returned!
Beauty is found in a cracked face
Emerald eyes that smile under hair of gray
And a chipped tooth that couldn’t afford to repair
Unique handsome frame dares not denim despair
Tough hands from working years so hard
Youthful laugh matches yellow youthful heart
Elegant somehow in a pair of jeans
You are a hero to the whole family
Every day you make silver sacrifices
Only you know when there is a crisis
For you shield us your future legacy
Because of your love we live life happily
Even when we fall short you give grace
Hope is a rope your tongue words say
Onyx clouds you chain smoked perhaps too long
Looking at empty chair wishing you weren’t gone
Dancing in your honor to your favorite song
Even if life was hard you never did wrong
Reminiscing and missing the beauty of the strong
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