JULY 2016

Only moments ago sultry hot

summer night's peace briefly

broken but thundering hoofbeats 

still echo in the clearing on Firefly Mountain

beneath a full moon wolves howl after the dark horse

Luminous crescent
adorns the night sky
fairy-tale trees

***

Prompt: Howl at the Dark Horse

***
Last night it found me again
in my dreams a Night Mare
riding alongside me lathered
causing my own heart to beat
along with the hard drumming
of heavy hooves subconscious
worries submerged by day now
running wild at night as my
mind races along retrieving
what was or could come to be
feeling a howl burst from my
throat I wake my heart still
pounding echoing the hoofbeats
of the dark horse who finds
me rarely now groggy I reach
for the light which repels
the dark one my breath slows
reaching for a book...safe again

I know it's for the common good
still how love aches as our dear
little creek small fishes froglets
and all living creatures within
are scooped up by the big bucket
beneath a roaring chopper then
swiftly whirled away overhead
only to be spilled onto the flames
we're feeling blessed at being safe
billowing smoke now smothered
but how we love our small creek
with it's shining face sparkling
reflecting the blue sky above
filled with creatures calling it
home quietly living their small
lives beneath the shimmering ripples
until the shadow hovers overhead
how love aches knowing that nothing
and no one is ever truly safe...

***

Love aches

when hearts break

when families suffer

when children lose a parent

when it makes no sense at all 

when middle aged men chase their youth

when they throw away all the good in their lives

when we feel helpless as if watching a train wreck

when we know there's naught we can do but fiercely hope 

when even that hope is slowly dying on the road to no return

***

Ant Tales
***
So this morning started interesting. When scooping BBear's kibble out, it was found to
have been turned into an ant farm of sorts. Which was really not the best way to start
our day, truth be told. Richard had to head out to town to look into an overheating
problem with our little, old truck, so after dumping 50 lbs of kibble on the bow of
the boat, off he went. I was left to stand out in the sun, tackling the ant problem on
my own. Why the sun you ask? Well ants hate direct exposure to the sun and in order to
get them to close down shop in the kibble it had to be spread out all over the boat bow,
exposing their sleazy activities to the bright light of the sun causing a lot of them to
literally abandon ship and the rest to scurry down into the bigger mounts of kibble.
Now I've always kind of admired ants, they are so very industrious and really know how
to make teamwork benefit them. That said, I don't like them doing their thing in my stuff.
I did try to be as mindful as possibly, all while my blood was boiling, both from the heat
and the frustration of the morning thus far. I know they are real pests, still they
too just want to live, don't they? Who am I to destroy them wholesale, wage war on
them when all they wanted was a free meal? So I sorted and sorted, scooped and scooped
from the boat into a shallow pan. After that batch was declared to be ant-free I would
then dump it into the large bucket where the kibble was supposed to be in the first
place. But that's another story which I am not going to tackle as I am feeling nearly
peaceful at this point. Of course some of the ants weren't going peacefully at all.
They got quite upset and as I flicked them off the boat and kibble, some decided to
attack the enemy, that being me, by crawling up my legs and then visciously biting
me while I was dancing a mad jig trying to dislodge them. And yes, there was a body
count involved in that battle, because enough is enough. I am trying to disperse the
army with peaceful means, but when I get no thanks for that, the fight is on. Anyhow
at well over an hour finally the last scoop was dumped into the pet food bucket and
the casualities were brushed off the boat. Any who were badly maimed in the process
were swiftly dispatched as I hated to see them suffer despite the fact they made me
suffer. Of course within a half an hour of my finishing this thankless talks, my
dearly beloved arrived back home, fresh as a daisy saying that the truck had been
checked, but of course no one could tackle the job on short notice. That said, they
tested it thoroughly and while it is slated to get a new thermostat and a radiator
flush in the very near future, still it was deemed to be safe to tackle the trip
up to Mt.Lassen this evening to view Luna make her ascent from way up there. So I
guess that while the day started off on the wrong foot, we do have something to
look forward to in the end, fingers and toes crossed. As BBear spend the last
Full Moon with us, albeit from the safe distance of his then home in the culvert,
he will join us tonight to admire Luna from a different vantage point. But first
I need a nice, long nap.

In the midnight garden of my brain
still I relive the full moon night
where the air was redolent of sulphur
soon sweetened by breathing firs
where leathery bat wings beat in the
darkness and luminous moths briefly
blinked in and out of sight touched
by our headlights and above it all
she rose swiftly touching the land
with her magic leaving us breathless
momentarily hushed by her glamour
as skies turned plummy and luscious
deep silence broken only briefly by
sleepy peeps ...a nearby bird dreaming

***

Prompt: FRIENDSHIP
***
It can bring joy
It can bring pain
It can lift you up
It can let you down
It is much needed
It is most wondrous
It is complicated
It is all of that and more.....