I Wonder About Dogs

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

From windows beside my desk,
my second-story perch,
I watch the weather change,
see the seasons come and go.
Another new year is on the way,
and I wonder what lies ahead.
But today sparkles with sunlight
defining sharp angles of rooftops
into bright brown triangles,
shaded rhombus shapes,
shingles hatched with pine tree shadows.
One garage roof slopes at a perfect slant
to show a snippet of the street beyond,
a few feet at most,
just enough to watch a small dog trot past,
in and out of frame.
A few seconds later, her human enters the scene
strides across, soon out of sight.
Before long, a larger dog ambles by,
followed by another dog-lover.
Then another dog and his person stroll past.
It looks to be a delightful dog-walking day.
(But I have a cat, and an old one at that.
I will not be walking my cat
no matter how glorious the weather.)
I wonder if the dogs know where they’re going.
I wonder if their walkers know.
I’ve been told that, unlike cats,
who attach to place,
dogs attach to people.
Dogs may not know where they’re going,
but they know who they’re going with,
so I imagine they’re quite happy
to be out and about.
As I head toward a new year,
as much as I’d like to tunnel
under the covers like a cat,
I’m facing the future more like a dog.
I don’t know where I’m going,
but I do know who I’m going with,
and that’s what really matters.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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Deep-Night Prowling

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

It’s midnight
when a sound wakes me,
a thud from downstairs.
I listen, alert for a second,
then settle back into my pillow.
I know that sound.
The cat has jumped down from a chair.
Or maybe a counter.
Thud.
Always a perfect landing.
She is a deep-in-the-night prowler.
She snuggles next to me in bed,
our breathing soft and gentle,
but I wake some time later
to realize she’s missing.
She has slipped away to prowl again.
But she’ll be back.
I listen for another bump,
another thud.
All is quiet.
I pull the covers to my chin.
It seems such a little-girl thing to do,
this tucking in,
but my night prowling happens
only when I slip into my dreams.
I breathe easy, trusting that
I’ll be back,
most likely to find
a dozing cat at my side.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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I Know Nothing…Except

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

I know nothing except
the cat jumps into my lap every evening
and settles in,
purring as if all is right
in her cat-centric world.

I know nothing except
the feel of the pillow beneath my head,
cushioning me,
holding me
for hours on end.

I know nothing except
the mockingbird has somehow decided
that my yard is his,
and the rabbit that lives out back
has claimed what the bird has left open.

I know nothing except
the flavor of dark chocolate
satisfies me in a way
that milk chocolate doesn’t.

I know nothing except
my own heart on this day
is full of roller-coaster feelings,
zig-zag and see-saw
crest the hill,
careen down the other side,
and I know nothing except
the fact that I will hold on
and ride it as long as I possibly can.

I know nothing except
I am here.
I am breathing.
I am feeling.
Deeply feeling.
I am here,
healing and whole.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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There’s a Cat in My Lap

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Basil and marigolds
are starting to droop in their pots
and I really should water them,
but there’s a cat on my lap,
curled up and cozy,
so I watch twilight
paint the sky lavender
and darken to purple.
I need to change the air filter
in my refrigerator.
I have the replacement out
on the counter,
ready to go,
but there’s a cat in my lap,
eyes closed, breathing softly,
so I watch the lights come on
in the neighbors’ windows,
squares of warm gold,
friendly islands
in the deepening darkness.
I thought I might read
as I sit here rocking,
or answer some emails,
but my hands are folded under
a cat in my lap,
so I notice the white that perfectly outlines
her gray-brown ears.
I really need to wash the dishes
and take out the trash.
Feel free to tell me so,
but, you see,
there’s a cat in my lap,
and I am grateful,
for she is old,
she is faithful,
she is even now teaching me
to rest,
to wait,
to see all that would have gone unnoticed
if she had not settled down in my lap.
So the basil and marigolds can wait,
and the refrigerator filter, too.
I can read and answer emails later,
and the dishes aren’t going anywhere.
There’s a cat in my lap,
so I take the hint,
settle in,
close my eyes,
and breathe softly,
purrfectly content.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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Flitting Among the Petunias

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

The butterfly was so small—
with yellow wings—
a sulfur, I think it’s called.
It looked so happy flitting
among the petunias,
a bright spot dipping and swishing
into the pink and purple.
The cat watched,
fascinated.
But being a cat,
she was unable to simply watch
and swatted at it,
brought it down.
It fluttered,
tried to rise,
but was no match for the cat’s paw
and jaw,
for the cat lapped it up,
that fluttery, dusty, yellow-winged thing,
and swallowed it down
in one gulp.
After all,
the butterfly was so small.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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Other Places, Other Times, and a Gentle Rain

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

The rain did not blow in
the way it often does.
It came straight down
in threads of silver barely visible
against the backdrop of trees.
But I can hear the gentle wash of it
like a stream running over rocks.
It matches my mood—
serene, soft, pensive,
at the shallow end of sadness.
A nuthatch flits from the feeder,
skims across the roof of the garage,
disappears into dark green undergrowth.
My cat is antsy, pacing.
It’s not a day to go out,
which bothers the cat
but suits me just fine.
A breeze drifts through open windows,
and thoughts of other places,
other times
that once stormed through my memory
now shower slowly down with the rain.
My heart is full and grateful—
grateful for the past,
grateful that it’s long gone,
grateful that I can gladly let it go.
A lazy rumble of thunder rolls in.
The cat runs,
but this deepest growl of the clouds,
this sharpest bite,
fades to silence
along with those deepest, sharpest memories.
I close my eyes,
lean back and listen
to the chorus of hopeful birdsong
that circles through
the showering rain.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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What the Wind Brought

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

In my lap, the cat pricked her ears,
glanced over her shoulder
at the sound of a leading wave
of a sea of wind
splashing its way through the trees
in a gusty rush of chilled air,
a cold front—
or as we used to say in Texas,
a Blue Norther.
The cat sighed and cozied in
as if to say, “And so it starts.”
And so it did.
Bits of leaves and seeds
hit the window glass,
the wind chime sang,
the warm room turned cold,
drafty,
and the Blue Norther blew.
“Watch!” its breathy whisper whirled,
“Soon you will wake up to see
roofs powdered with frost.”
Years ago,
on one wall of Grandmother’s kitchen
there hung a picture of a red-cheeked elf
carefully torn from a magazine—
Jack Frost waving a twig wand
working his fairy magic.
Through spring,
through summer,
through autumn he waited there
until his own happy season rolled around,
and then he reigned.
So as the cat snuggled in
and I listened to wild waves of wind,
I knew that his season had come.
And sure enough—
as Grandmother would say—
sure enough the next morning,
when I looked out my cold-paned window,
I saw the world frosted icy white,
glittering in morning sunlight,
and I knew that during the night,
Jack Frost had passed by.

-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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What’s the Hurry?

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Today’s to-do list is long—

Clear the back deck of dried beans

and a drinking straw

left from yesterday when I taught

my grandson how to make

a pea shooter

Clean the upstairs bathroom

Vacuum

Bake bread

and whatever else comes up in between.

But my cat was on my lap,

curled and cozy

as if to say,

what’s the hurry,

this,

this is what’s important.

And I noticed how brown strands of fur

mingled with gray,

how the white was growing whiter with age,

how her closed eyes smiled

and her breath gentled in and out.

I hushed the waiting tasks,

felt the warm sun on my shoulders,

listened to the quiet

for a moment

and a moment longer.

When I rose to tackle my to-do list,

my cat followed me upstairs

and sat in a splash of sun,

watching

as I calmly cleaned the bathroom

to a porcelain shine.

She was at peace.

And so was I.

– kh –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week—Black-eyed Susans are still blooming:

Shadow of the week:

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Love as Mist and Flood

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Let your love be like the misty rains, coming softly,

but flooding the river.”

– Malagasy Proverb (Madagascar) –

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – flowering quince:

Shadow of the Week – cat in a puddle of sun:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each week, simply sign up on the right.

For my posts on coming of age in a community of faith, link here.

Carry the Calm

Karyn Henley

cat

I Wonder About Dogs

Deep-Night Prowling

I Know Nothing…Except

There’s a Cat in My Lap

Flitting Among the Petunias

Other Places, Other Times, and a Gentle Rain

What the Wind Brought

The Invitation and Promise of Earth

What’s the Hurry?

Love as Mist and Flood