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A white moth shoots past
as if blown
from goldenrod to grass,
and on the path a leaf lies,
yellow, a fallen wing.
Just this morning
I too was flying
like the leaf
that had been carrying the poplar
on its back
as ants do
that lift
their own weight times one thousand.
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37 comments:
Oh Ruth, how lovely. That ending: "that lift/their own weight times one thousand." Chills. I feel like that some days (most days really), like there's just too much to do/say/think about, and yet there's no thought of putting anything down - the center might not hold. :)
PS. You have no idea how delighted I am to be the first to comment. Thank goodness you get up so early and I stay up so late.
What an elegant poem. I just loved it. You've captured so much in so few words.
Lovely poem. Restful images. Thanks for the break!
Wonderful picture of the barn with the sunlight coming through. :) M
Great poem; I read it over several times. I absolutely LOVE the barn picture with the sunlight streaming in. Just GORGEOUS!!
Beautiful pics - especially the ray of sunshine.
Beautiful poem. And the photo of the barn is a poem in its own right. Thanks!
Oh, oh, oh...that second photo is a masterpiece. I would love that one on my wall. The composition, shaft of sunlit dust particles. Beautiful work Ruth.
Beautiful! I love your way with words, simple yet carrying so vivid an image. Appreciate the contemplative photos too. Thanks for a Monday morning repose.
Never, ever change the color of those barn doors!...Amazing photo!
Amazing poem too...beautiful fluttery images...
Your weeds are so tall, Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel would be lost in it.
More poems? Beautiful words.
sigh... sometimes i wonder why i can't epxress my thoughts into words creatively...
Both photos are perfect bookends for the poem.
and reading the last line I kept hearing a disembodied voice singing, "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNi7Kt0iOH4
The poem is lovely, Ruth. And looking at the barn (teal, again!)
I wonder: do we love the light in barns because it reminds us of cathedrals, or did the architects of those buttressed glories smile to see the light pouring through, reminding them of their barns?
VaNeSsA - I go to bed early too. And the morning time is my only chance at quiet time.
I started a poem about the microscopic things in this little biosphere around us. It didn't work, so I posted an old poem. Thank you for your comment.
Thanks a lot, Barry.
CottageGirl - Restful?? Carrying a thousand times your weight??
Hehehe.
Marion - thank you. I was leaving for work, and that light stunned me. So I got out and took its picture.
Pat, bless you for reading the poem several times.
Thank you, Nancy. I never tire of staring at light like that.
Ah, thank you, DS. But I won't thank you for the sunlight, it did that all by itself.
Thanks so much, Sue. Please feel free to print it out on photographic paper. I would be honored.
Thanks, Arti. It's pretty incredible what our little friends in nature do for a living.
Oliag - Not a chance, even if we wanted to. I do love that green, thankfully.
Hi, Ann - I don't write as many poems as I used to, I quit my Sapphos group. This is an old one. I tried starting a new one and lost patience. It takes more than a day. Thank you.
Renaye - oh I think you do. Just get lost inside.
Thank you, and bless you, Loring. You always say just the right thing.
I remember that REM song (even though I shouldn't, I think we were living in Istanbul, and we heard more Turkish classical and European pop then).
Linda - it's a good question, although I think there were not such big barns then, so it might be the former. It will break my heart if we ever have to side the barn - I don't want to lose the gaps between boards. But I also don't want the thing to come down, and we could never replace the boards.
Lovely poem, Ruthie, and I love the shaft of light streaming through the barn window framed by the green boards.
Animals birds insects are better off Ruth, they don't have to carry the weight of responsibility, weight of monotony of living, emotional weight, the weight of secrets, what else ? Momentary joy makes us feel light.
ah ! both the pictures are stunning Ruth.
Loring, Atlas and Hercules tossed our world while playing basket ball
Thank you, Susie. It would be nice to sit and chat in the barn when light is streaming in. Or not chat.
rauf, yes - as Wendell Berry wrote in his poem on my sidebar: ". . . the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief." I sometimes close my eyes and think of that, pretend I am a deer. I think you do that when you want to be like a monkey.
i like this.
Hi, California Girl. Thanks.
I wish I could write like you, there is so much I want to say about stuff. You have such a good eye for photography.
Bob, you have a terrific sense of humor, and I love what you write.
Thank you.
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