THREE SEASONS IN A WEEK
by Paul Curtis It was a bracing walk The sun shone brightly on the lake, A weak autumnal sun, Bright but un-warming And a light wind stirred the branches Of the leafless weeping cherry tree And added to the chill The familiar pair of resident ducks Bobbed on the choppy surface Seemingly oblivious to the cold Mist on the distant mountains Hinted at what was to come By the time I pushed open my front gate I was suitably refreshed And glad to be home That night the storm hit A storm that began as a hurricane Far out across the ocean Then as it hit the land It was merely a tropical storm When it got to us it was just a storm But what a storm it was Thick black clouds turning day to night It rained and promised to rain even more Inches and inches of rain Large gray drops ran down the bare trees And splashed on the grey waters of the lake Bouncing off the green and brown backs Of the resilient swimming ducks The Hurricanes remnants Took three days to pass And left the lake considerable deeper . In the calm after the storm We basked in the warmth Of a bonus summers like day Left in the tropical storms wake The two ducks swam lazily across the still water Bees were out looking for flowers Ants crawled around in the grass, Adding to their winter stock of food. And squirrels chattered away As they searched for acorns and pine nuts And ran amongst the shadows Of the dogwood trees A blue heron flew to the very top Of the leafless weeping cherry tree Doubtless lost in the storm It spent the day recharging its batteries And getting its bearings Later it joined the ducks on the water Obviously to ask directions The next day summer had gone again And autumn had returned The day began with an overcast sky and chilly breeze Later as I walked for a while beside the lake It had become a warm and sunny day. Warm of course, is a relative term It was above freezing, just The sun was bright; the wind light but cold All was silent, the waters calm A duck slept in the shadow Of the leafless weeping cherry The other was close by but silent And the blue heron was perched, Motionless, on the top of the bare dogwood Before it launched itself And after circling the lake once it was on its way The squirrels were hiding I saw no bees searching for flowers And the ants were out of sight Winter arrived yesterday With heavy snow falling in the morning Then the skies cleared And the temperature plummeted Today the landscape wass even more beautiful And the lake was frozen The ducks were no where to be seen I don't know where they go But they always come back The ground is crisp under foot And it is very very cold The squirrels were the only creatures I saw And they were happily raiding their stores Feasting on acorns and chasing around I decided it was too cold for me And headed for the fireside Too reflect on this week's abundance of seasons I am a fifty something family man with a passion for writing and I draw inspiration from those around me. paul.curtis1956 @ btinternet.com http://www.dreamagic.com/poetry/poetry.html http://www.peculiar-poetry.com/ Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |
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