A Walk Among the Fireflies Canto III

Firefly Questions

I took a walk this evening

Just to stretch my legs

And clear my head

So on this summer’s night

Thick with the promise of a thunderstorm

I walk the streets of my neighborhood

Past familiar houses

With lights and families inside

Past the old meadow

Which remembers a long gone farm,

Past the tree-lined bog

Now silent for the night

Save for the infrequent croaking

Of a bull frog.

Around the bend I go

Into the newest neighborhood

With houses big as mansions

Painted every shade of a muted rainbow,

Meant to make them appear different,

Yet unable to hide the fact that

they are pretty much all the same.

Along the edge of the park I walk,

Where fireflies flash between the trunks of an oak wood,

And a small bunny rabbit scampers across my path

And into the rose thicket

Presenting me with an evening’s delight!

And I can’t help but wonder

If the children in these monstrous homes

Watching TV, playing video games,

Or texting their friends realize

what a wonder is waiting for them

right outside their doors?

And I can’t help but wonder if they even care,

Or if their will even be fireflies 20 years from now

And will the next generation even know what they are?

~Kathie Adams Brown (June 22, 2012)

A Walk Among the Fireflies Canto II

A Firefly Waltz

In the muggy, humid air of summer

I watch the fireflies dance

Above the soggy, boggy swamp,

Where green cattail spears stand tall

And point their fuzzy cinnamon spears to the sky,

I watch the insects flash and fly

And listen to the bullfrog chorus

Croak a song more ancient than

The surrounding trees,

And still the fireflies blink and flash,

A primitive dance, a primal thing,

Of earth, and skies and seasons,

The pulsing rhythm of life,

The mating rite of summer.

~Kathie Adams Brown (June 22, 2012)

A Walk Among the Fireflies Canto I

Firefly Delight

I saw the stars fall from the sky

Into the bog and rise

As fireflies!

And the earth sighed with pleasure

At the glory of the sight

And small children danced in the meadows

With the light of the fireflies dancing in their eyes!

It was a merry time,

A long ago time,

A simpler time of life.

~Kathie Adams Brown (June 22, 2012)

Birding is Fun Wherever You Are

Brown Pelican at Lakeside Park in Tucson, AZ 2009

Birds are around, in the sky, in the air

With birds on the ground there are birds everywhere.

Birds in the water, birds in the trees,

You can see birds wherever you please!

There are birds at the pond, and birds at birds at the beach,

Birds in your yard and birds out of reach,

But sometimes the birds are off at the mall,

And sometimes you only know birds from their calls!

They are down by the river, or off at the park,

Nesting in bushes, or climbing up bark!

Birds are nature come close-up to meet,

With feathers and beaks and funny bird feet!

So look out your window of your house or car,

‘cause Birding is Fun wherever you are!

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 3, 2012)

Original post with additional photos can be seen at Birding is Fun

I Hate Dust

It is easier to complain about dust than cancer

It is easier to see

And easier to remove.

I can be angry about the dust.

I can wipe it clean and it is gone.

The dust will not ravage a body

Like cancer can.

I can tell if the dust has returned

Before I know about the cancer.

Both are silent things

One floats through the air,

The other slides through the blood stream.

Both alight somewhere

And start to accumulate,

Clogging up the works

Making the house unclean.

Just a little lemon oil and a dust rag are all I need

to remove the dust, but,

I wonder how chemo smells

And if everything glows and sparkles inside

When it is through.

I hate dust.

~Kathie Adams Brown (4-19-12)

An Early Spring Walk in the Evening

Shawsheen River 4-7-2012

It is a peaceful occupation to walk

In the woods by the small pond

As the sun sinks low

And red-winged blackbirds call,

And Grackles whistle and click,

While wood ducks float lazily preening,

And all the world is hushed

With the clear blue sky an empty vault

Above the greening grass

As the lazy river glides by quietly

From lack of rain

And robins serenade the evening twilight

And bid good-bye to this day.

~Kathie Adams Brown (March 27, 2012)

There Are the Dead

 There are the dead

Standing in the bog

While a flicker laughs behind me

At the slowly creeping green,

The first sign of spring

Here among the dead.

Geese are busy nest building,

The wood ducks paddle

between silver stumps,

and tall snags

like up-ended bones,

stark, bare, and beautiful,

engraved by wind,

carved by bird beaks

with nest holes that now provide homes,

these silver arms reach to a springtime sky

blue as a robin’s egg,

strong arms that serve as perches

for the kingfisher and his mate

laughing their rattling call,

 a sound like dry bones,

while tree swallows glide by

on metallic blue wings,

building nests filled with life

among the dead.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 3, 2012)