In first light, moist air
before day’s heat,
the fresh smell of innocence.
Birds call in the distance,
geese stir and feed;
otter slowly curves
to dive in a shining C
as Earth readies
for the next strain
of the machine.
Tree quiet,
sun upon the sea
breathed in and returned,
we lend ourselves
to the mercy prayer.
Heart-touching… Thank you!
Prayer… the ever-present refuge, yes.
Love it!
Thank you, Don. The precious moment before the 0730 din of human nature’s stirring motorcade.
Don, thanks for keeping me on the list for your work. I like the otter as a C and especially like the mercy prayer. Most of all, I like being in touch with you this way.
I love the phrase, “the fresh smell of innocence” before the thoughts kick in and make their judgments and projections. A sweet one, Don
“the earth steadies for the next grind of the machine”….so poignant.
Don: Just back from the MKP weekend (MOS) so your words in this poem have particular resonance. Thanks.
This is beautiful…what elegance to this sweet poem. Thank you.
It strikes me, as I read your weekly poems, that nature is the muse for all times.
Hunh. Interesting. I did not see that ending coming, I had flowed along in what felt like a gratitude for morning poem, then paused over exactly what was being breathed in and returned–a tree, I thought, or the sun, but decided it was the sea…the end stopped me in my tracks wondering what in the poem had led me to expect the need not for gratitude but for “mercy.”
We are to “lend” ourselves, includes me, to a “mercy prayer.”
Okay, I’m thinking about it! 😇