Beauty

  The Oak Trees Stunned by the sunlight on a winter day, A shock too strong to meet, I turned...

  A Cardinal on a Snowy Day A single cardinal, on a snowy day, Cloistered in a nearby hemlock branch...

  Legacy of Light One by one, extinguished stars return to take their places in the fallen night; So long...

  Homage to Brigitte Bardot ---God bless Brigitte Bardot for her courage and frankness. “And God Created Woman…” yes, indeed—...

    Fireflies Driving down a country road one sultry summer evening, with headlights sweeping through the little clouds of...

  Her Grace The day arrived when Edna was too blind To live alone. She gave her things away— The...

  A Perfect Match is Found _Some people love the valleys. _Some people love the mountains. _Some people love the...

  The Seven Crossings When I was a child, my mother sung Of verdant plains where bright light hung, Of...

  Darkness and Dawn   I. Christmas Whispers A brood of vipers slithers in the sun With darkest hearts and...

  The Final Cricket The August cricket-choir’s crescendo, In percussive stereo, Extends its forte clamor, frantic For its final chance...

  Emotional Ocean We sail or putt a tiny skiff, When tidal waves force us adrift _Over white caps of...

  Fog of Confusion I claim these rolling hills _Of age-old granite, And the shadow of their bulk _Upon my...

  Christmas Stockings   I Nigh ev’ry sock I’ve ever worn Was gift to me on Christmas morn– A fact...

  Summer’s End ---an Alfred Dorn sonnet It must have been a dream: the nodding boughs Of loveliness, midsummer nights...

  Sunrise The world is blue at its beginning. Birth is what we wait for, at the edge of earth....

  Firefly Behold it glimmer through the trees— A lantern drifting soft and low— It weaves along the evening breeze,...

  Magic Show, North Country The puddling snowbank spills a silver trace, its melt a mirror shattered on the earth....

  Grandbaby Oh little child, you bring the mysteries of rainbows, storybooks, and pixie dust to life with tiny smiles....

  Winter Looms Jack Frost has brushed the mountains’ crests And highland nymphs are shivering, The blackened mauve below the...

  Burnham Beeches A weary pilgrim rests ‘neath ageless trees, Enraptured by a blackbird’s ancient rhyme; The tones of his...

  All the Colors With all the colors of the rainbow glowing in their hue, I find the one I...

  Perfect Synchronicity He thought back to that hour at dusk’s still height, When bird-song sounded both, outside and in...

  Four Rooms in Music’s Mansion   1 _The maestro grasps a complex score, conducts his orchestra without reserve. Connoisseurs...

KO ---inspired by the Lyoto Machida-Vitor Belfort Fight, May 12, 2018 Below the jaw---no gentle punch, A flying kick, a...

  Feeble Best We try to earn God’s love but can’t succeed. When on His narrow path, we trip and...

  The Decorator I live to decorate for Christmastide. My summer birthday barely means a thing As I count Christmases...

  The Time to Give Him Thanks In the still and pristine morning, When the flowers bathe in dew, And...

Musical Version by Lex McKee     Cetus and Jonah’s Lament "And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But...

  The Ground of Being Consider that our world may be sewn through With sentience, intelligence and thought. The dead...

  Swimming to the Waterfall at Uvongo In the heat of the early winter By the haunts of the southern...

  Just Do It. _My spirit’s wings shall soar _Although at times I stray. When I’m downcast… when life’s storms...

Diocletian’s Horse “Save it for your horse.” ---Oedipus Tex, P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) While Diocletian owned the home Octavian built...

  Morning Rain Veiled sky, dusk at dawn, Night gone---yet not gone; Half-light, hardly day; Weird world, dim and gray....

  Timeless The timeless, gentle swish of wave-washed sand; The echoed “chock” of rounded wave-washed stone; The silent, skittered feet...

  Longfellow I first met you in the schoolroom, _When I was but a child, And read your words and...

  Seeing Shen Yun in Milwaukee The curtain rose—divine, resplendent stage, Where heaven’s hues met earth in living grace. The...

  Early Days The scent of roses, and the blazing sun, The gas pump next door busy—day’s begun. No school;...

November by the Sea The cliffs, they are eroding On old Pacific shores, But chill November calls me To where...

  Upon Seeing a Stump Where a Tree Once Was When in the park, I passed a felled oak tree...

  Solid Oak The oaks are always late to shed their leaves. They cling to vestiges of summer raiment, Now...