Evensong

 

“Autumn Evening” by Letitia Smith-Burnett

 

dovecotes emit oblique octaves

as corn-yellow sun settles down

among lavender raiment of sky

plaintive lyrics of homing at close

of the wearying day carried high

inside soughs of domestic retreat

over pole-barns and stables where

livestock relax into reverence and

farmhouse beds settle in prayers

every day is a blessing of labors to

gratify yearnings of body and soul

what the minor key birdsong of

psalms understands even better

than voices of husbands and wives

caught up worrying work yet undone

 

 

From my books Bohemian Scents and Legacies (vol. 1)

Song of Dusk

“The Sea at Dusk” by Emil Nolde

 

evening rain whispers
diminuendo of day
gives voice to the moon
a melancholy music
in tempo of transition

Spring Peepers

 

“The Red House” by Judith Donaghy

 

the smallest of frogs
keep evening large and alive
we sleep soundly

Evensong

“Autumn Evening” by Letitia Smith-Burnett

 

dovecotes emit oblique octaves
as corn-yellow sun settles down
among lavender raiment of sky
plaintive lyrics of homing at close
of the wearying day carried high
inside soughs of domestic retreat
over pole-barns and stables where
livestock relax into reverence and
farmhouse beds hunger for prayers
every day is a blessing of labors to
gratify yearnings of body and soul
what the minor key birdsong of
psalms understands even better
than voices of husbands and wives
caught up worrying work yet undone

Gloaming

“The Gloaming 2” by Randall David Tipton

deer emerge from the wood
wrens return to the nest
sensing wisely the safety
afforded by purpling sunset
when eyes of the predator
carry the least trace of trust

shadows gather like families
drinking the cool air of gloaming
that hour of graceful transition
a time to take stock mark the
blessings of nature detached from
the stresses of human-made life