Shadows Sometimes God speaks through the shadows – I said hello to the butterfly But she went on her meandering way I said hello to the brown squirrel He startled and scurried away I said hello to the robin She turned and away off she flew I sat on the bench by the cedar Where…
Author: songsfromtheriver
I'm a poet, a photographer, a physician, and a patriarch who loves the great outdoors and all of the beauty it shows us. I live in a great valley between the mountains of Northern California, and I love it.
Setting Sun
Setting Sun I was on my evening walk I stopped right in my tracks Two geese ahead were making it clear They did not want me to bring any more fear Into the night of the setting sun The rising moon Their time for flight was much too soon They would rather sit here in…
Life, Work
Life, Work Sometimes it is just not romantic Writing life-filled poetry We all want life to be good and whole And it is Yet life seems to live on a backdrop of death We cannot see in total darkness We cannot see in total light We have to have a both and an and We…
Live Oak
Valley Oak I used to dislike you Your disfigured form Your gnarled hands Your thorned leaves I thought you belonged in a horror film The perfect backdrop for darkness and grim – I’ve spent a decade with you – Now I see You are amongst the strongest of trees You stand amongst the wildfires The…
Presence
Presence There are so many things going on in this present moment Then those things disappear but the present moment does not The present moment is our taste of the eternal Every leaf that quakes in the wind Every bird that flaps its wings and flies Every ray of light It rests in the here…
Transplant
No photo today. Shocker! I’m going to let you use your imagination instead 🙂 Transplant I see the transplant branch Withering, sad and dry I don’t know where, I don’t know why When I followed all the given directions – I went to class, I listened well But still my lovely branch was felled By…
Crossroads
Crossroads Maybe it’s time to say goodbye to guilt To shame To self-criticism and hate I hear the screams of the rigid “you’re taking away the right from the wrong” Exactly I’m tired of playing this dualistic song I’m tired of the same old lyrics The same old endings The same old routines I’ve listened…
Revoke
Revoke Today is a day of mourning A day of celebration Today my childhood died From youth, a liberation From fantasy, fallacy To life, reality From hopeful nonsense To quiet trust I think I may I think I must Keep leaning into this moment This moment right here with me No past or future liberty…
All Encompassing
All Encompassing Love is the greatest of delights,the most unconscionable of painsIt rides mighty horses across the universe’s plainsAn all encompassing sea of stars and planets and spaceQuarks and mesons and traceLove is the reason why I breatheThe reason why I dieIf love was not in the midst of my being,here In meaninglessness I would…
Singing River
Singing River I often read great poetry Then first cry out a woe is me I can never seem to attain to such beauty Such wisdom So dark disdain is born from comparison An offspring I need to cast in the river – Here I stand on the shore The river in motion Quickly heading…
