The sky darkens,
stars brighten
and owl voices
call from the forest,
the melody of their sound
drawing me further
into darkness.

Starlight heightens
the crunch of leaves
as the night music
leads me to another time
of lighter footprints
and earth undimmed.

The tracks of those times
nearly invisible
except when owls call
to the moon as it rises,
and she answers with light
upon the bowl of the sea.

 

photograph by Agro Nugroho

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Owl Voices” with music by Morten Lauridsen

 

 

12 Responses

  1. We are led into the night by the soft calls of owl, conjured by voice and word. And..thank you for the introduction to Morten Lauridsen. Such a stellar combination, thank you Don..

  2. Another beautiful offering, Don… Thank You! Uncanny, really — as several days ago, one of my new neighbors just gifted me with a framed image of an owl nearly identical to the photo accompanying your “Owl Voices.” Mystery & magic afoot!! So glad we are still so well connected…

  3. Thanks, Don —

    I often meditate on the idea that Nature in all their aspects have — in the face of rapacious exploitation — maintained an open door to integration for humankind, and even the beginnings of a path back to a blessing-way. As you say, the footprints are there, and can be seen when the light is right.

  4. Don, I readily “see what you’re saying” leading the night music. For, in those tall trees a stone’s throw from our family home, I still discern the stoic silhouettes and sonorous hoots of our close-by Owl family in the moonlight, amid the last rays of Dusk set to obscure the noble visage of the oldest, tallest (wisest) tree in the grove. Thankfully, the Tree of Life has no such limitations.

  5. Thank you, Don… wonderful on so many levels.
    Oh, to be like the owls, knowing how to be patient, and how to use the available light to maximum effect.
    Your poem, with the perfect musical setting, is such a gift.

  6. A stunning mood and presence… just like the owl voice. I read to myself, and I am walking in those footprints on the trail of another time. And I am happy to know just exactly where I am. Beautiful Don!

  7. Opening a pathway through this poem Don, drawn by night music through dark and light into another time and place of earth undimmed—now, grateful for you, grateful for it all.

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