Morning Gold, Silent as Breath

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

She is such an artist, the sun.

I watched her rise today,

a brilliant yellow-orange backdrop

to the dark green silhouette

of the neighbors’ bamboo.

Her morning gold, silent as breath,

spreads wide,

slides between cane and leaf,

creates a shape-shifting mosaic,

light and dark,

shadow and shine.

She shoulders higher up the sky

with wise warmth,

quietly whitening thin-stretched clouds

feathered across the high, icy blue.

She is just getting started,

for the whole world is her canvas,

and she takes her time,

for she has all the time in the world.

Her fluid beauty ebbs and flows

as shade and light flirt,

drift,

slow dance,

weaving magic into the day,

sparking autumn-touched treetops

into gold and copper leaf-flames.

She is angling now to give us

her brightest and best

even as the days shorten and cool.

I will watch her paint this day.

I will watch her dance with shadow.

And maybe I, too,

will dance.

-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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The Invitation and Promise of Earth

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

When cool dawn drifts through

open windows,

when the rising sun

tips green and golding leaves and

trickles down tree trunks

in trailing drips of light,

when honking geese

cross the fresh sky,

when asters open

and the basil releases

tiny pepper-black seeds,

when the cat no longer sprawls

but curls into a cozy pose,

I know Autumn is on the way.

I also know Summer’s heat

is not done with us,

but these are hints of what’s to come,

promises of cooler days ahead.

Already, the earth is offering up

her generous, ripe gifts.

Soon enough she will invite us

to settle with her

into long, fallow days

of peaceful rest,

patient renewal,

potent re-freshening.

She will invite us

to join the slow, deep

in-breath and out-breath season

of all creation

calming,

becoming serene,

being revived.

-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature and shadow of the week:

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The Dance of the Season

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

It’s the dance of the season,

the frolic of Fall.

Leaves

drift

down.

Pollen freckles the birdbath,

tickles my nose—

a snappy breeze,

an autumn sneeze.

Branches bow,

a leaf breaks loose.

Then another.

And another.

Lifted and swirled,

tossed and twirled,

they join the drift,

the sink and lift on

cool currents of air

that stir them around

and down

to the ground

to scuffle and settle.

All the while, the breeze whispers to leaves

still clinging to branches,

“Come and dance.

Come and dance.”

And they do,

and they will

until branches are bare

and a chill stirs the air.

Then Fall flicks her skirts

and flirts with Winter

who knows this dance well.

She’ll take the lead

flinging flakes of frost

in a waltz with the wind.

But that’s weeks away.

For today, it’s a breeze

and a sneeze

and a timid drift

of golden leaves.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week—moonrise:

Shadow of the Week:

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What Looks Like the End

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“There will come a time

when you believe everything is finished.

That will be the beginning.”

– Louis L’Amour –

What looks like the end is simply the beginning. I think that’s the lesson of autumn as the leaves drop away and the trees go bare, as flowers wilt and dry and fall from their stems, as birds fly south and the winds grow cold. Even the calendar year heads into its last pages. It would be easy to believe that everything is finished. But we’ve been around long enough, haven’t we, to know that it’s just the beginning.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Autumn-New

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Like Smoke Across the Sky

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“In the cloud-gray mornings

I heard the herons flying;

And when I came into my garden,

My silken outer-garment

Trailed over withered leaves.

A dry leaf crumbles at a touch,

But I have seen many Autumns

With herons blowing like smoke

Across the sky.”

– Amy Lowell, “Hoar Frost” –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – our first snow of the season:

Shadow of the Week:

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Light and Color

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“How beautiful the leaves grow old.

How full of light and color are their last days.”

– John Burroughs –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Singing in the Trees

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Joy, with pinions light, roves round

The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”

– William Blake, “To Autumn” –

Look for joy. Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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A Misty, Mellow Season

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run.

– John Keats, “To Autumn” –

May you find a mellow path through this season and rest in the fruitfulness around and within you.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Lighting Up Our Whole Lives

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“One day the sun shall . . . perchance

shine into our minds and hearts,

and light up our whole lives

with a great awakening light,

as warm and serene and golden

as on a bankside in autumn.”

– Henry David Thoreau –

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Carry the Calm

Karyn Henley

autumn

The Invitation and Promise of Earth

The Dance of the Season

What Looks Like the End

Autumn-New

Like Smoke Across the Sky

Light and Color

Singing in the Trees

A Misty, Mellow Season

Lighting Up Our Whole Lives