a vernal see-saw balancing darkness and light equilibrium Kim M. Russell, 2017 Image found on stonehengetours.com My response to Carpe Diem #1184 Spring Equinox (Haru Higan) Today Chèvrefeuille has repeated a previous episode which explains the Vernal Equinox or ‘Alban Eilir’ which, for druids and pagans, is one of the most important celebrations of the […]
Month: April 2017
Bay Leaf Shadows
Our bay tree had to be trimmed back. It’s a sad fact. When we first moved in, almost seventeen years ago, it was a neat little tree, reaching just above my head. I loved it. I still do. But it evolved into a giant that was wrecking the gutter, the roof, the paving stones that […]
Norfolk Sights and Sounds
windmills and flat landscapes coastal curves and seascapes white sails flash on Broads folded fields and sedgy meadows fruit in orchards and in hedgerows wriggling country roads plopping frogs and gurgling shallows trumpeting geese and warbling swallows rumbling tourist boats Norfolk twang and magpie’s cry commingle as the world slips by diminuendo of minor notes […]
Prune
The breeze is chilly, sky a polished azure, melted-butter primroses peep between my roots, a metaphor ripe for plucking. Unlike me, a wizened plum tree who should be in her prime, bearing scented blossom and sweet fruit, time after time. I stand in shadows of resilient birches and willows, slender branches bursting with bud and […]
Hyacinth
Simple hyacinths assembled in a bowl exude sickly breath of Altschmerz and sorrow. In the cleft lattice of a flower head, a liquid pearl trickles down the insidiousness of a fading petal curl, a reminder that mortals become weak and spent, and what firmness and agility once meant to a young boy who let two […]
Spring Breath
first morning of spring nature takes an icy breath exhaling colour Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Carpe Diem #1183 first day of spring (haruno saisho no hi) Chèvrefeuille says that this month he is taking us back to the classical haiku by exploring classical kigo (season words) for spring. He reminds us that […]
Many are called…
but few are chosen in the symmetry and ritual, the circle of life and death, from the first gasp at birth to the very last breath. Fresh grass grows on mountains through snow and stones; saplings take root in graves among crumbling bones; new life and innocence bring hope and vision. Many are called but […]
Heron Zen
high in the treetops on an empty nest of sticks she lifts crown feathers raises heavy heron wings stretches head and neck skywards Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Carpe Diem Namasté, The Spiritual Way #6 Haiku’s State of Mind – Zen This week Chèvrefeuille has decided to inspire us with Zen Buddhism, because it’s […]
Sprung
Now the clock hands have spun forward, an extra hour’s worth of sun- light has my nose smearing windows, spotting miniature mountains in mud- dy grass, patches clawed and dug by myopic moles in their hungry hunt for worms and beetles. My ears detect a rhythm, tap and hammer of a woodpecker, precise percussion of […]
Spring Forecast
Tiny coal-black fists raised on naked twigs threaten to open into purple Fraxinus blossom: if the ash before the oak, then we’ll surely have a soak. But then I spot a haze of ginger Quercus buds, an Easter bonnet veil around grey branches: if the oak before the ash, then we’ll only have a splash. […]
writing in north norfolk 