Tag Archives: garden

THE DAWN OF DISCONTENT

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Darkness has not yet lifted

from the night of a waning moon.

This is the time of discontent

when one feels most alone, but soon,

the sun shall rise.

Others choose to sleep through darkness.

I cannot. Like a lone wolf,

I choose to stay awake, woke to wonder

hidden in all I yet may discover

in people and places I have never known.

I plant seeds of yearning in my soul

that love may take root and grow

beyond my own cultural limits,

beyond the bounds of all I know.

I try to stay awake, though weary,

to watch the new day dawn.

As it surely will.

As it surely will.

As it surely will.

Turn three times and make a wish.

I wish to fearlessly face the heat of these days

with cool calm and laughter so strong

it awakens the entire world.

Will the new dawn reveal 

that which was destroyed

while an entire nation slept?

This question is what makes some people

sleep the whole day long.

Their eyes appear open, but they sleepwalk;

perhaps hoping they are dreaming

and the day is a mere nightmare

from which they will soon awake.

I cannot pretend. Not I.

Even in the dark my eyes open wide.

I must see what darkness has wrought.

I tend to the garden I have created,

to the life of growth I have sought,

as the sun rises over roots sorely stressed.

I cannot allow the plants, nor my self, to die

even though they can no longer thrive.

I am awake in the dark, but not alone.

So long as I see clearly, if not cheerily,

the life of other living things all around me

resisting the threat in the day ahead and hanging on.

Sensing our togetherness is what makes us strong.

I watch the discontented dawn.

The sun continues to rise.

As will you. As shall I.

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LIGHT UP

Photo by William Melvin, April 2025

I am made of stardust

lit by sunlight.

Like lilies of the field

I dig deep into earth

with my toes.

Like birds of the air

I soar on currents stirred

when heat meets cold.

I seek. I soar. I laugh out loud.

I raise my face to the sun.

I dance in moonlight.

My spirit takes flight.

I grow strong.

My beauty abounds.

As earth, my earth

turns round and round.

Time has no meaning

I have found

except to tether my hopes

that change comes around

when most desired,

bright with sounds

of laughter, and courage

unleashed and unbound.

Rejoice in the day,

the month and the year

but stay in the moment.

Have no fear.

Photo by William Melvin, April 2025

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SPRING WILL COME AGAIN

ALWAYS HOPE FOR SPRING, acrylic on canvass, Louise Annarino, 2024

It has always been

understood and too often

forgotten. Spring comes.

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LATE SUMMER DAZE

LATE SUMMER, acrylic on canvass by Louise Annarino, 2024

The shades of summer pull slowly closed.

Sun drops quietly behind.

Shadows lengthen across grass carpets

moistened by the dew of cool nights

and warm days peaking through.

Autumn is on her way to paint

hot colors against cool blue skies.

Summer still lingers behind the shade

ready to surprise 

with summer heat intent

on a hot reprise.

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SNOW FALL

The world is falling apart, its people deranged.

War and famine join as climates change.

People are on the move to escape the pain.

Water cleanses in blasts and depths unseen.

We wade through facts, the truth unseen.

Snow starts in the upper atmosphere.

Warm air below alters snow

unless we remain cool

where heated skies collide

and moisture tears up in our eyes.

Watching the snowfall gives us hope.

It blankets ugliness’ scope falling on all of us with equal glaze.

Snow reminds us of our better selves and better days.

Spring warmth is gentle like our souls.

It melts the snow so flowers may grow

within the gardens of our hearts.

We are in the midst of a great change.

Unsettled as Spring weather

we must remember we go through this change together.

And those of us who garden will share the bounty of what we sow

with all who are willing to enter

our gates, their needs in tow.

The old world is dying with every angry breath.

Snow in Spring reminds us there is new life after death.

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HAIKU

Now comes the junco

from his northern clime to mine

singing garden rhyme.

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ETERNAL GARDEN

After the heaving winds of Winter

blow across the face of Earth

dropping heavy rains in ceaseless floods,

the blazing winds of Summer force heat waves

upon plains and forests and fire up

an atmosphere of heat and drought. 

The plants in my garden are anchored

beyond the sound of my pleading voice

begging them to live , if not for me,

then for every butterfly and bee

as if Earth might survive

by some miracle, as have I;

beyond cancer scares and chronic ME,

and fibromyalgia that brings me to my knees.

Yet, like Earth I continue to survive 

and even thrive.

No future generations of my DNA

will I leave behind, but seeds

that blow on restless winds and bury their heads

in fertile soil across the garden I have spread,

and breed new life in a new garden

long after I am gone.

This may be my only immortality.

Or, perhaps there is more

in a place yet unseen but hoped for in my dreams,

built on faith and fed by love

Felt in such ecstasy of our union,

its solidarity a true communion

where we explore the truth that

we are not alone, anymore.

The whole world, not merely Earth

is ours to explore,

building hopeful memories to outlast

the fear of loneliness from the past.

Our loving connection gives such strength

even death cannot break the bonds

of love and life meant to survive an eternity.

We are in this together, you and I.

One thing I know for sure;

like the garden, our love will never die.

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HAIKU

MAY FROST

Photo by Mariya on Pexels.com

First light. What a sight !

Tulips hold their petals tight.

Ice came in the night.

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GARDEN LESSONS

Louise Annarino, garden photo 2021

HAIKU

Inert seed unearthed,

breathing air unfiltered now

by soil, can’t grow.

Oklahoma Conservation Commission Soil Scientist by U.S. Department of Agriculture is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

LESSONS LEARNED

You have to eat a pint of dirt before you die.

Eating dirt creates immunity.

Now, tell me why

we disinfect what is written or aired.

Tell me why we only care

for news that entertains

yet fails to create community.

Do we deliberately divide the seed

until nothing worth digesting can grow

in gardens allowed to stay fallow

to feed the greed of those who make money

on fields laid to waste covered in words

sweeter than honey?

The last few minutes of every news show

tells a story to touch the heart.

To make certain we continue to believe

the world is better than we think,

despite what was said only moments before.

Can we not take facts straight any more?

Do we need others to tell us what

we are seeing; then tell us not to believe the sight?

Because, everything will simply be alright.

Dirty though the world may be

it is our right to make it what we will

by planting our own seeds

in the fields of our own minds

where it can then grow solid and whole.

The worms move the truth through dirt

enabled by microscopic insects

up the roots and into stems

until blossoms see the light of day.

Just, give us the dirt, and be on your way.

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RUNNING TOWARD WINTER

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

As frantic squirrels gather nuts

I hurriedly gather friends to my garden;

creating memories to last the winter,

locked deep in darkness,

as the nuts squirrels store

beneath the soil,

to be dug up as needed.

If only I can recall

where I put them.

If not, they will be reborn

when Spring returns

and friends gather once more

to bloom in full splendor

which far exceeds the memory

of what went before.

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