Tag Archives: Relationship

The finches have returned to feed.
The grays of winter have been cast off.
The bright yellow of the male
is set off by the hushed green of its mate.
Both dance around the bird feeder
as if proclaiming to the other
with voices in chirps and twitters,
"Look what I found!" 
I would be chided for such a song and dance
around the dining room table as the meal 
is placed with loving, serving hands.
The scold, though, would come with a smile,
a smile that has wrapped me in comfort and care
for years as we dance life together for another day.

I, like everyone else, like to belong;
to be valued and to add value to a community
of similarly-minded individuals who gather
in groups for purposes mundane and spiritual.
The stars come together across the sky;
visible at night, always present during the day.
Look how the geese travel as one "V,"
heading to destinations for food 
and noisome conversation as they dine.
A pair breaks off from the flight of the whole
and lands in the open lawn next door.
I sip coffee as they sip things found in the dewed grass.
Would they let me join in their endeavors?
Would I allow them on my back porch?
Do we value each other across the lines of species?
The geese call out, answering with a "honk"
that I fail to understand in my place as a human.
If we share stories now which we cannot comprehend,
what hope will there be when the Big Bang
turns upon itself and becomes the big Crunch,
one "honk" to another?

She made new green coverings 
for the swing that seats two
which I hung on the front porch.
Undisturbed peace wraps around us
as now we move gently back and forth
looking forward to the coffee
silently brewing in the kitchen.
A neighbor passes.  Greetings exchange
with greetings.  Morning smiles appear.
Neither my beloved nor I wander 
into abstract ideals in our conversation.
Rather we create devotion by pointing
to the sunlight dancing around the leaves.
Let civilization plod its own path.
In this moment of today there is no time
for dancing along the fine line
of challenge and comfort.  And visions can
wait to develop.   There is no immediacy
to share in a world where certainty
needs each movement swinging between
now and forever.

I remember summer days 
when birds crowded the feeder 
and more walked below 
pecking at fallen seeds.
Somewhere a preacher asks 
of those listening with ears to hear
to draw the meaning of scripture 
out of the mythical realm 
and into daily experience.
Do the birds hear the same words?
The secret given to us at dawn,
does it still remain quiet and secure
after we have given it away so many times?
Though the words of the questions
remain the same, they can be rearranged
in infinite ways to provide the answer
to the one question always being asked:
Will the birds feed today?