The Harvest MoonTed Hughes(1930 – 1998)The flame-red moon, the harvest moon,Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing,A vast balloon,Till it takes off, and sinks upwardTo lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon.The harvest moon has come,Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon.And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum. So … Read more
Autumn Equinox Ritual21 September 1997Indiana Pagan Resource Network Lamplight glimmers in darkened roomsAnd you fold your hands across a swelling bellyCradling the fruits of your labor.The rich scent of new-mown hay, the dark Earth beneath itWhere seeds that fall soon deeply sleepHere as we move towards the darkness of SamhainThe shadow that brings the light … Read more
Summer Sunby Robert Louis Stevenson Great is the sun, and wide he goesThrough empty heaven with repose;And in the blue and glowing daysMore thick than rain he showers his rays. Though closer still the blinds we pullTo keep the shady parlour cool,Yet he will find a chink or twoTo slip his golden fingers through. The … Read more
Peaches Batik I © by M BaldwinFrom Blossomsby Li-Young Lee (1957 – ) From blossoms comesthis brown paper bag of peacheswe bought from the boyat the bend in the road where we turned towardsigns painted Peaches. From laden boughs, from hands,from sweet fellowship in the bins,comes nectar at the roadside, succulentpeaches we devour, dusty skin … Read more
Ecstasyby Eric Ashford How delightful! The full flown grateful lightdelectably traced overthe unhinged tongue. The spoken declaration of blisscaressed into illumination. An ululation of the soulplucked up beyond a thoughtto be a sob of awein the throat of an angel. How lusciousthis sumptuous spanof a roaring silencewhere the void sings outas one instant. How delightfullythe … Read more
Innocence (The Sun) © Osho Zen TarotMiraclesby Walt WhitmanWhy, who makes much of a miracle?As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,Or … Read more
A Night-Rain in Summer by James Henry Leigh Hunt Open the window, and let the airFreshly blow upon face and hair,And fill the room, as it fills the night,With the breath of the rain’s sweet might.Hark! the burthen, swift and prone!And how the odorous limes are blown!Stormy Love’s abroad, and keepsHopeful coil for gentle sleeps. … Read more
Moonlight -Maxfield ParrishMoonlightby Vita Sackville-West What time the meanest brick and stoneTake on a beauty not their own,And past the flaw of builded woodShines the intention whole and good,And all the little homes of manRise to a dimmer, nobler span;When colour’s absence gives escapeTo the deeper spirit of the shape, — Then earth’s great architecture … Read more
The Soul of the Rose – John William WaterhouseTo the Rose Upon the Rood of Timefrom The Rose by W.B. Yeats. (1893) Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days!Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways:Cuchulain battling with the bitter tide;The Druid, grey, wood-nurtured, quiet eyed,Who cast round Fergus dreams, and … Read more
Mockingbirdsby Mary Oliver This morningtwo mockingbirdsin the green fieldwere spinning and tossing the white ribbonsof their songsinto the air.I had nothing better to dothan listen.I mean thisseriously. In Greece,a long time ago,an old coupleopened their door to two strangerswho were,it soon appeared,not men at all, but gods.It is my favorite story–how the old couplehad almost … Read more