Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Unexpected Beauty

I was walking after supper one day last summer and I saw the two swans that have nested near the pond across the road. By the time I got home this poem had pretty much formed itself. 



the zoom on my little camera tried its best...


What To Say About The Other Evening

I could tell you of the mute
and mated swans whose milk-white
feathers gleam in the last rays of the sun
like massed stars,

or how the dragonfly shimmers over
the pond's edge, so quick and agile
that it is somewhere else
almost before you see it.

I might mention a horizon the
color of cream in a sapphire bowl,
or how the shadows lay themselves like
bottle green sheets across the side yard,

how the light leeches so slowly 
from the day-blue sky that the fireflies
blink on before it is full dark,
lighting a path on which

the mute and mated swans 
float home.


13 comments:

molly said...

Such a beautiful word painting, Pauline!

steven said...

you blew the world of your knowing entirely wide-open with the breath of your words here pauline. steven

Reya Mellicker said...

This is so gorgeous and so so summery: you know, rich, milky, full. Beautiful picture, too.

Wow.

Brian Miller said...

what a beautiful night you had...almost magical...

June said...

Your little camera did just fine at making a dreamy image to go with your poem.
Such descriptive phrases!
Bottle green sheets lying across the lawn . . . I can SEE that!
The swans floating home on a firefly path!
Just . . . lovely.
Thank you for this.

Penny said...

A glorious poem. Lovely descripions provide a picture one can see.

gautami tripathy said...

Such a descriptive poem. Liked it very much..

finding dreams for you

Ginny Brannan said...

What a beautiful picture you have painted with your words here.

Frank Baron said...

Lovely. (Consider the dragonfly line stolen.)

;)

Hilary said...

Just beautiful.. I'd like to be there.

Jannie Funster said...

Oooo, I want some cream in a sapphire bowl now, no matter how many calories.

So true about the dragonflies. Methinks they know so much we do not.

Wonderful to meet your words. Thanks!

Pauline said...

Molly, thanks - you would have loved it :)

Ah Steven, high praise from a poetic soul - thank you!

Reya - glad you stopped by. I saw the swans this week so they will be here a second summer :)

Brian - it's always magical :)

Thanks June - happy words from a fellow poet

Penny - I"m glad that's true. Thanks :)

Thank you, Gautami. You're a fine poet yourself!

Thanks for stopping by Ginny

Frank - as long as it shows up in your marvelous writing somewhere ;)

Hilary - you should come - you'd love the pond!

Jannnie - your comment made me smile. Thanks for coming to read.

Meggie said...

How very serene, and beautiful.