Hello, Spring!

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Oh, Spring is surely coming,

Her couriers fill the air;

Each morn are new arrivals,

Each night her ways prepare;

I scent her fragrant garments,

Her foot is on the stair.

– John Burroughs –

Wishing you a Happy Spring!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Silent Green Tongues and Blushing Petals

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

The sun peeked out once today.

Clouds barely gave way,

then slipped back across her bright face.

“Our day,” they said.

And, truly, it was.

They cried,

softly, quietly,

leaving tears in droplets

on window screens,

on the silent green tongues of lily leaves,

on the blushing petals of Lenten roses.

The wind sighed.

“It will pass,” she said.

And, truly, it did,

for the clouds moved on

to weep somewhere else,

and the sun smiled.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Winter Garden

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Before Spring dances in to stay, I offer one more tribute to Winter.

The winter garden is skeletal,

stripped to its bark-bones

and skinny stems.

Brown, brittle seed heads

of Black-eyed Susans shiver

at the wind’s cold whisper.

Tattered leaves

of frostbitten Citronella

droop,

dangle,

shudder,

tangle.

A chill gust whips

the dry rust-red cascade

of sleeping Creeping Jenny

into a wide awake, wild dance,

its fronds a frenzy

of airborne ribbons.

Branches of Crape Myrtle sway

like arms with curled fingers

offering pearled brown seed pods

to the winter-blue sky.

If it seems that I’m describing dreariness,

and dearth,

and death,

perhaps I am.

But I mean to paint a graceful picture,

artful wonders formed by frost

and darkness

and biting wind,

paring back the backyard world

to its simple glory,

its skeletal scaffolding,

the elemental beauty

of Nature’s underpainting,

a delicate design

visible only

in this

season.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Soul Stretching

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“So let us look for beauty and grace, for love and friendship, for that which is creative and birth-giving and soul-stretching. Let us dare to laugh at ourselves, healthy, affirmative laughter. Only when we take ourselves lightly can we take ourselves seriously.” – Madeleine L’Engle from her lecture Dare to Be Creative

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Never Ever Before

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

I’ve always been this way, I say,

and yet,

I haven’t always been this way—

not exactly,

not this unique and particular way,

living another day

with its unique and particular thoughts

and wanderings

and wishings

and astonishments.

I’ve not always been aware

of ideas I read

last night,

sparking questions I’ve asked

this morning.

Each new dawn

marks a waking

to wider wondering,

deeper thinking,

and the joy of possibility.

I’ve always been like this.

But not precisely like this.

I’ve always been made new

each day.

It has always been this way.

Yet it has never ever

been this way

before.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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And Still They Come

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

In dark silhouette,

a flock of birds

darts,

swift and low,

across a sky cloaked in clouds of gray

in shades that drift

and slowly shift,

now light,

now dark.

Wind, heavy with weather, quickens.

Air thickens.

Branches wag their fingers at the sky.

And still they come,

scores of birds,

arrows speeding,

reading the signs of the clouds,

believing the whine of the wind.

They look so sure of where they’re going.

Some inborn knowing of nature

sends them racing past the trees,

against the breeze.

Are they seeking shelter?

Outrunning the rain?

Or simply celebrating

wings and wind

and the miracle of uplift

on a fresh tide of air

as rain begins to fall.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Winter Evenings

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

On winter evenings, I sit at a window

and watch the twilight sky

as the sun slips away,

leaving in its wake

a gift of shifting color.

Tonight, the sky is soft,

a silver blue tinted with yellow,

and patches of pink.

Bare branches of backyard trees

curve and cross in silhouette,

upstretched in silent worship,

vespers on a silver evening.

Between and beyond

the filigree of twigs and branches,

a light appears,

bright white,

barely moving.

A distant plane.

Slowly,

smoothly,

quietly

it traces a line

through the delicate maze,

then glides away

as the silver blue sky,

slowly,

smoothly,

quietly

darkens

into a rich hush,

the velvet blue,

of a winter night.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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At Times of Challenge

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm. These are strong supports in challenging times.

Nature of the week: