THE SEASONS

Moon over Durand August 27, 2012
photo~Jo Heroux

Don't know how it happens

Nor do I know if it matters at all

But this night of a full moon 

Brings me back, back before the fall.

The fall, falls
Leaves are all over the ground

They aren't bright, they aren't alive

They're just there.

It's not lovely, it's death all around.

Tho' the chill in the air brings me down

The shimmering light warms my soul

It's that ball of bright light 

Which fools me, if only tonight.

Still the darkness fills every pore

It seeps into my battling self

I can't keep it at bay

I can't fight it off anymore.

Fall is death for all things that I crave

My flowers, the trees and the grass

The pool is not open nor sparkling

My bones will stay chilled until May.

Closing eyes to remember my summer

Wrapping tighter inside my big robe

Seeing sunshine and blooms and the water

Getting through this is oh, such a bummer.

Winter comes and it goes and I live through it

I even smile at the first sign of snow

It cleans otherwise nasty browness

But I don't venture out to feel it.

Spring arrives and my heart feels lighter

I clean up and I plant and I putter

I open that pool with great vigor

Every cell of my being is brighter.

Waking to hot, humid days

My eyes are covered with shades

Coffee on the deck

Hummers feeding and chirping

I'm alive again, I feel again. 
The water glistens again

I am warm. I am happy. 
I am ME in Summer.

Jo

Wildflowers Growing

Please leave your thoughts...I love when you do that!

This is the picture prompt for the week on GBE2 along with 'Growing Wild" as the word prompt and here are my wandering mind thoughts.

As I study this picture I see beautiful wildflowers in my favorite color combo for flowers. ( Purple and yellow, my yard is full of purple and yellow flowers, not wild, but rather planted and tended by my own hands.)  Here, I see God's work.  No human hands tending, lovingly or otherwise, just God's gift of beauty and unfettered growth.  There are no sculpted paths, no design plan and weeds just grow where the seeds fall with great abandon and fertility.  The blooms are startling amongst the green in front of the shimmering lake.  It is breathtaking and serene.  It is pure and unadulterated.  It is Nature in all her splendor.  Growing wild and free and there for all humanity to share or disrespect.  To photograph or paint or trample. He provides the canvas and we provide the appreciation or destruction.

It is exactly how we are created.  We come into this world free of all encumbrances. We have no moral code at birth.  We owe nothing to anyone.  If it is perceived that we owe our very existence to our parents, the obvious answer is, we didn't ask to be born.  They chose, either by actual decision or by actions to make this baby.  We are the 'gift' not the ever indebted product.

It takes a very short time for each of us to change into the people we are to become.  To grow wild.  Some of us do so and some of us never learn what wild means.  A soul roaming wild in this earthly world is free to experience life.  EXPERIENCE it not just LIVE it.  I feel sorrow for those who are unwilling or unable to let go of pain or sadness; they will never feel wildness.  I want to always feel pain when appropriate, always feel sad when appropriate and always then be capable of unbridled joy when it comes to me.  I haven't always grown wildly, not by a long shot.  Many years of my life were regimented years of doing.  Doing what I had to do.  Doing what no one else could or would do.  Doing what my children needed done.  Just doing, not experiencing.  In recent years, however, I have learned to Let Go and Let God.  One of the most important lessons I have ever embraced.  Growing Wild requires that I do that and then and only then can I see all the beauty around me.  Only then can I feel the love that showers me every single day.  I take the time to appreciate my time here in preparation for my next life.

I'm not in a rush to get to that next life, but I am ready when I am called.  I have lived a full and rich life with people who love me and have allowed me to share their lives.  Great friends and family have blessed me always.  I have had my share of pain and heartbreak and because of that, I love more deeply and with fewer reservations that I did in my youth.  I am growing wilder with each passing day with less human tending and more God's blessing.  It's a good thing to be in His hands today and always.

The natural beauty around me is not to be missed.  A free and loving heart is meant to beat in me and it does.

For us, just like the field of wildflowers...He creates the canvas for us to appreciate or destroy.