sky

The Sun Yawned

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It’s the first day of Spring.

With a slow stretch,

the sun yawns into the deep, still sea of sky,

softens the clear, cloudless blue,

reddens the top branches of the elms,

slowly slides its smiling light down the trunks.

I watch from my upstairs window.

Oh, Spring, at times

I thought you had forgotten us.

But your name is on the calendar square.

I’ve underlined it.

And here you are!

Warmth is drifting through the air, I think,

anticipating a day without a coat,

maybe even without a sweater.

I’m thinking bluebirds,

white blossoms on the dogwood,

seeds to be planted,

spring-fresh air to breathe.

Then I notice the roof of the first floor

just beneath my window.

The shingles glitter with frost.

I flick my phone to the weather.

Twenty-six degrees.

Twenty-six!

Oh, Winter,

you may be gone,

but in your wake, you’ve left a chill.

Of course you have,

for it’s only

the first day of Spring.

– kh –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Over the Pines and Elms

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A blanket of soft, silver-gray clouds

covers the morning sky

as far as I can see.

Even indoors, I feel the weight of it.

 I try not to see it as gloomy

but as a protective roof

over the pines and the bare elms.

All is still and quiet.

The whole world seems to have taken

a day off.

Rest, the clouds say.

Rest after this busy, crazy year.

Rest under this silver gray blanket of sky.

– kh –

From Noticing: 365 Days of Calm Reflections

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Nature’s Simple Wisdom

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Go forth under the open sky,

and listen to Nature’s teachings.

– William Cullen Bryant –

 

What is Nature teaching me? To listen, I think. The world will circle on with or without me. The evening star will rise. Clouds will sail the skies. Cicadas will buzz. Crickets will chirp. Trees will dance in the wind. Seasons will glide in and then pass on. Nature says to simply breathe deeply and listen. (From my new book Noticing, available now.)

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Sky’s Gift

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It is the sky that makes the earth so lovely at sunrise,

and so splendid at sunset.

In the one it breathes over the earth the crystal-like ether,

in the other liquid gold.

– painter Thomas Cole –

A wondrous sky greets this cold, crisp morning. It’s criss-crossed with contrails, probably due to holiday travel. Toward the horizon, a wide sweep of thin, feathery clouds spans the blue like a skyscape dry-brushed in white across a deep blue canvas. All this, and the sun is still on the rise. It’s painting tree tops gold, while their lower trunks and branches rest in twilight shadow. The sky is breathing over the earth, waking it up with beauty.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Peace, Angels, and Diamonds

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We shall find peace,

We shall hear angels,

We shall see the sky

Sparkling with diamonds.

– Anton Chekhov –

When skies are clear, long winter nights make for good stargazing. If it’s a clear night, look up and linger for a moment with the stars. Let your cares float away, if only for a moment. Breathe in peace. – Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses

 Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

When Skies are Silver

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On this rainy weekend, I think of another cloudy-about-to-rain day when a friend saw his elderly neighbor at work in her garden. He called, “How are you on this gray day?” She looked up, smiled, and said, “Oh, it’s not a gray day; it’s silver.”

 

What is water

that pours silver

and can fold the sky?

 

– Hilda Conkling –

Poems by a Little Girl

 

Wishing you silver on a cloudy day.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Feel the Stars

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“. . . feel the stars and the infinite

high and clear above you.

Then life seems

Almost enchanted after all.”

– Vincent Van Gogh –

 

In this busy holiday season, take time to feel the stars, sense the infinite, and rediscover the enchantment of life. Wishing you joy and peace!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Sky in a Dewdrop

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“The whole moon and the entire sky

are reflected in dewdrops on the grass,

or even in one drop of water.”

– Dogen Kigen, 1200-53 –

 

And if I were to peer into your upward-looking eyes, I would see the whole moon, the entire sky, and the beauty of creation that is you.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – cat, contemplating:

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

For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

The Pulse of Hope and Peace

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“We shall find peace,

We shall hear angels,

We shall see the sky

Sparkling with diamonds.”

– Anton Chekhov –

 

I think it’s possible to carry within us a sense of calm so strong that the world knows hope and peace simply because of our presence and so powerful that every physical space we step into pulses with hope and peace simply because we’re there. So find peace, hear angels, see the sky sparkling with diamonds . . . nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm. We are the pulse of hope and peace.

Nature of the week – I meant to photograph the interior of a blossom – and my new close-up lens focused on an ant:

Shadow of the Week:

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

For my posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Where Does the Sky Begin?

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“[T]he sky actually begins at the earth . . .

We breathe it deep within us.”

– Diane Ackerman –

Take a breath of sky today!

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – a tree casts its shadow in the Japanese Garden at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, Nashville:

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

Long, Easy Strides

 

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

For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.