-
Come in from a cold deep walk in the night
Where stars and moon peg indigo with white
Curl up by the fire or lounge by the tree
Drink from a spicy cup
Here next to me.
Let’s warm up together like birds on a bough
And remember the year we’ve shared until now
Our flights have been wild, our songs wide and clear
May we scout, soar and sing
Even freer next year!
Here's to poetry and the exhilarating flight of a spirit
ReplyDeletethat is free!
With all best wishes,
Friko
are the berries for the birds.
ReplyDeleteAh Ruth, you have been so poetic of late, and I have not had the words to respond. But today, I do. It is always a pleasure to read your poetry and words and especially to see your photos.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and Don
Curling up near the fire with a cup of something hot and spicy and a good friend to talk to sounds so wonderful! Wish I were doing it right now. Your poem is so lovely.
ReplyDeleteThose ornaments are fabulous! I didn't know you meant like REAL art! I love those cardinals. So beautiful! Woman of many talents, that's you!
Merry, merry Christmas to you, my dear, dear Friend!
Hats off to your artistic talents - and thanks for sharing them with us. Happy Christmas to you and yours!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Ruth - all the best to you and all those you love.
ReplyDeleteFriko, free is the only way to be!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your best wishes. I return them to you heartfully.
Ann, definitely! :) They are rosehips, actually, and they are edible (I think this variety is anyway), but I do not know if birds eat them.
ReplyDeleteVioletski, thank you for your kindness, and for reading my words. Thank you also for the Christmas wishes. I look forward to spending the coming year with you here and in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteSusie my dear, would that we were real neighbors and not cyber ones. I doubt that we would get anything more important done than talking over something spicy, and that would be fine with me.
ReplyDeleteThank you about the ornaments. The female was first, and I started getting better with the male. :) I did a flicker for my mother-in-law, and I have two more to do for a certain son and his girlfriend . . .
Merry Christmas to you, David and the whole Ohio clan! Much love.
Thank you, Pauline, for your kind words, and for your Christmas greeting!
ReplyDeleteThank you, João, I wish the same to you, Paula, João Carlos and João Pedro (I hope I got those right), and to the doggies too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a warm invitation wrapped in verse. I am imagining myself curled up by the tree enjoying a wonderful conversation with an enchanting woman ... Sweet. Happy Holidays dear Ruth.
ReplyDeleteHello, Bonnie, it's my beautiful treat to have you here, my friend. Thank you for your holiday wishes. I look forward to sharing the coming year with you.
ReplyDeleteGood job on the ornaments! Did you see a special on TV about decorating the White House? A man from Michigan made these great birds from natural materials to be on top of the Christmas trees. One peacock was fantastic. I don't know when it ran. I just saw it on one day and taped it. I will have to reseach and post about it. Your ornaments reminded me. Anyway, I would like to get in on that spicy tea and conversation! Merry Christmas, Ruth and family!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, my dear friend. May your Christmas be the best of all times, and may the new year find us all in wild flight, soaring and singing once again, pushing the edge of freedom beyond the utmost bounds of our imaginations.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cheerful blessing! Reminds me of Burl Ives song, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI especially like your closing couplet:
Our flights have been wild, our songs wide and clear
May we scout, soar and sing
Even freer next year!
May your Christmas be warm and happy.
Hi, Shari -- thanks! I like tole painting, and I'd like to keep working on it in the year ahead. It's something I can do for homemade gifts. Don cut the ash discs from a fallen tree, I have the paints, so it's just the time, and I enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI did not see the TV special about the White House decorating. I've been trying to load some videos from whitehouse.gov, but my internet is driving slowly in the snow this morning. If you post it, I'll find out more. That's cool about the Michigan man making birds!
Thank you for your warm Florida Christmas wishes, my friend.
Dear George, thank you for your beautiful and reverberating echo of my own wishes. This is what we do with our conjoined spirits, ripple and echo out of the vast reservoir of possibility. It is thrilling, and you only make it better, dear sojourneying friend!
ReplyDeleteDan, I'm glad the blessing cheered you! My mom used to play and sing with Burl Ives when they lived in the same boarding house in NY. How fun that must have been.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words and warm Christmas wishes. I anticipate learning much more from you in the coming year, about living in wide and wild freedom.
Thanks for all the poetry all through this year, Ruth. It's always a joy for me to visit your site. A blessed Christmas to you and yours! Stay warm and merry, and keep those poetic imageries coming... 'even freer next year!'
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this wonderful little poem. I so enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add, "Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!"
ReplyDeleteI am simply in awe .
ReplyDeleteOnce again.
I want to read your poem again and now these?
you paint too...
I want to be you when I grow up.
Love to you Ruth. I am certain our paths have crossed for the goosebump good thus far, and can't begin to express how I wonder at what the new year might bring. Might give and take and affirm and initiate.
I couldn't be a more blessed person at this point in my life. Abundant joy indeed.
love love love to you.
deb
Merry Christmas, dear Ruth!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these - as always - nicely selected images and words! Merry Christmas to you and your family, dear Ruth!!
ReplyDeleteAnd to you as well, a wonderful warming-up poem! Visiting you and Don in October was one of the BEST Christmas presents this year.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, my dear sweet Marmmy! Those ornaments or gorgeous. So beautiful. I want at least five of them. Wish we were cuddling by the fire together, watching old movies and laughing. I love you.
ReplyDeleteHi, Ruth! I love your words and pictures. The decorations are gorgeous. It has been a pleasure to meet you here in blogland, and I look forward to reading more in the coming year. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you, too!!
Have a Merry Christmas Ruth.
ReplyDeleteWarmth is what this poem and Christmas message delivers to me, warmth of verse, of fire, of spicy cup, of new year's best wishes, of boughs overflowing with birdsong and blog friendship. Much warmth and joy to you and yours, Ruth, this Christmas holiday.
ReplyDeleteCARDINALS!! And you painted them-- so, so beautiful. The poem is so soothing, perfect. I wish I could share a cup of mulled cider or hot chocolate with you; I raise my mug in salute instead. May you continue to see the beauty in everything, Ruth, and keep your song wide and clear.
ReplyDeleteA very Merry Christmas to you and all your family. Soar, soar, soar in the coming year. It is a blessing to know you. Thank you.
Merry Christmas to you and yours
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic thought
Here's to a fantastic 2011 for ALL
GM:)
Merry Christmas Ruth. Thanks for all the inspiration and your kind support of my sprouting blog! lots of good wishes to you and yours... Jane xx
ReplyDeleteA very Merry Christmas to you also!
ReplyDeleteyou have SUCH talent! im happy to have stumbled across your blog! Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteArti, my very sensitive literary friend, you couldn't make me happier than by saying you feel joy coming here. I am grateful for what I've learned from you about books, film and art, and I look forward to more next year, besides just knowing you and your kind spirit.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pat! I wish you and your husband a beautiful Christmas and adventurous new year.
ReplyDeleteDeb, you are full of love and inspiration, two traits I admire and treasure when they come in one package. I claim that joy and wonder for you in the year ahead, and while there may be rocky roads as well as smooth, I believe we can always choose joy, something I believe you do. Baskets of love to you, my friend.
ReplyDeleteDear Claudia, the best Christmas to you, Ana, Clara and your husband. I hope you are plenty warm and no problems with the furnace . . .
ReplyDeletePeter, Joyeux Noël and God jul! Thank you and may your year ahead in Paris be beautiful. (And then we get to witness and share it . . . )
ReplyDeleteThank you, Loring. I will never, ever want to get the image and sound of you gobbling your good-byes to the turkeys out of my mind and ears. I wish you, Carol and Abby a brilliant new year!
ReplyDeleteSweet Lesley, have we ever been apart at Christmas? I will try not to think about that. Thank goodness for cell phones, g-video-chat, skype and mail services . . . speaking of which . . . would just two ornaments be enough . . .?
ReplyDelete:)
Julie, I am very good we have met as well, and I hope that if and when you come back to Michigan, you will look us up and see some rustic barn wood in person! A very merry Christmas to you and yours in the Netherlands (and in Michigan too . . . ).
ReplyDeleteHello, Kanmuri! Merry Christmas to you and Mr. Kanmuri!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen. I trust you and your family will find much to be joyful about, in spite of your very recent loss.
ReplyDeleteLorenzo, I'm glad you feel what I wished to convey, for meeting you in our blogs this year has been truly wonderful. I look forward to much more learning, humor and beauty from you in your marvelous posts and your comments here. A warm and happy Christmas to you and your family in Spain.
ReplyDeleteDS, my dear friend, what would I do without your kindnesses? You just fill up my heart. It cheers me to no end knowing you are there. Thank you so much, and a very Merry Christmas to you, your husband, and to the CS. Here's to a beautiful year ahead of us! (chinking of mugs . . . and then hugs)
ReplyDeleteHear, hear, Gwei Mui!! A beautiful 2011 to you!
ReplyDeleteJane, you have been a very welcome new light in blogland for me. As you unveil your many talents and heart songs for Pam, I will keep being enriched. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Babs, and to you and Mo. I can't read your words without remembering you eating something like pumpkin pie a few years ago and wishing me a Merry Humphmas with pie in your mouth . . .
ReplyDelete:)
Hello and welcome, Paige! Thank you for such a kind first visit, and Happy Holidays to you!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you post something at your blog . . .
Merry Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and lovely, thank you Ruth for your words, your photos and all you share from the heart.
ReplyDelete'Where stars and moon peg indigo with white'. A true poet wrote this lovely imagery.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Ruth - and may the coming year be brimful of happiness and contenment for you and your family. Keep writing and writing and writing. You are so very good.
Thank you, Dana, Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHi, Judy, Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHello and thank you, RoSe. I appreciate your kindness. Merry Christmas to you in one of my very favorite places on earth. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Deborah. A very Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for your very kind encouragement, always. The best to you and your beautiful writing too.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Christmas, and here's to more wild flights next year!
ReplyDeleteJoyeux Noël.
ReplyDeleteWe've a true white Xmas with many "glogs" ( spicy vin chaud)in Sweden.
Thank you, Robert, and may you fly wildly in hikes, treks and poems in the year ahead !
ReplyDeleteMerci, Daniel. Yes, you have had quite the weather. Please do keep warm with some spicy vin chaud. Joyeux Noël.
ReplyDeletemerry
ReplyDeletemerry
christmas, friend.
xo
Merry Christmas to you and yours. I really enjoy our chats and mostly reading you wonderful blogs.
ReplyDeletexoxo cathy
A Very Merry Christmas, Ruth!
ReplyDeleteI wish you and yours a Wonderful New Year too!
Cheers!
Sonia.
Merry Merry ! Julie in HOlland :)
ReplyDeleteRuuuuth!!!!
ReplyDeleteMerriest of Christmassy Christmases to you, beloved one.
Light the candles and let them burn bright so I can see them way across the oceans, shining true into the night xx
Warmest wishes to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteChristina, Merry Christmas, and much beauty to you in the present, and in the year to come.
ReplyDeleteDear Cathy, I love our conversations too, and your presence here, and your beautiful, colorful paintings. xoxo Merry Christmas, my friend.
ReplyDeleteSonia, thank you so much, Boa Festas and Feliz Natal to you in São Paulo!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julie, and Prettige kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! I hope that's right. :)
ReplyDeleteShaista, my dearrr! You bring so much warmth across the cold ocean, which doesn't diminish it one bit, in fact I think your wishes got warmer upon arrival. Merry Christmas to you, my true-light friend. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gemma. May you feel much love and joy this holiday and in the coming year. I look forward to more of your beautiful art in the days ahead.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful...Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Ruth! Wishing you just such cozy winter as this! :)
ReplyDeleteLove.
beautiful--hope you have a wonderful holiday--thank you for the wonderful wishes---Cheryl
ReplyDeletesuch a beautiful blog!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!!
Beautiful!! Wishing you and yours all the best. Hope it's been merry..merry!
ReplyDeleteHello, Jill, and thank you. Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that, Mystic, I wish you much, much love.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, thank you. It has been wonderful so far, quite quiet and simple, just the way I like it.
ReplyDeleteHello and welcome, Bohemian Single Mom, and Merry Christmas! I like your blog too.
ReplyDeleteDear Marcie, thank you for your beautiful wishes. It has been very merry and flow-y.
ReplyDeleteI am finally finding some time to visit my blogging friends to belatedly wish them a merry and bright Christmas season and a wonderfully joyous New Year! I am finding that at each blog I visit I receive a little gift...Here I find your poem...and discover that you are a crafty artist too!:) I collect bird ornaments and these are as beautiful as any of them!
ReplyDeleteHope your Christmas was the merriest of merry dear Ruth!
I adore your painting. Very fine. You have an artistic soul, of course you can paint as well. I thank you for triggering my interest in poetry... As you know, it has truly helped blossom a whole new avenue of communication in my own family. The poem "stack" below is too much for me, I fear. Will, however, got into it and "sees" things I didn't. But the whole concept was so very intriguing and fun.
ReplyDeleteRuth! When did you paint these??? And against what wood planks are they hanging??? I want to know exactly where they are so I can picture them. What a lovely Christmas post. You really are a poet in so many wonderful ways, dear sister.
ReplyDeletewith my fading vision i thought they are peacock feathers Ruth. Very beautiful paintings they are.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the season Ruth.
Happy Christmas, Rootie.
ReplyDeleteStay merry and bright.
And to you, although somewhat belatedly. Much joy for the New Year.
ReplyDelete