Passages : February 2025

Friday, February 28, 2025

Winter Daydreams

Snow squeaks underfoot
Hearth fire warms hands and nose
Heart soars with delight

Should I heed past experience and "beware the Ides of March" or allow expectations of imminent springtide beauty to take center stage?

A meander through waning snows in the winter wood helps to shelve memories of the drama and havoc wreaked by winter weather. As it happens, in my heart the good memories about Old Man Winter and his minions invariably prevail.

Loblolly Alleé

Seldom-trodden forest road through winter pines, north of Pittsboro NC

Togetherness

Revenge consumes hearts

Forgiveness calms hard feelings

Turn the other cheek

Togetherness Of Purpose

Arthurian Knights of the Round Table legends endure at Mary Holmes Park, Pittsboro NC

Friday, February 21, 2025

Inner Dragons

Change adds spice to life

Inner dragons urge self-doubt

Fellowship stills qualms

Facing Inner Dragons

Sculpture in Mary Holmes Park, Pittsboro NC

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Rise Above Upheaval

Life changes stress mind,

Till soul takes courage to heart—

Upheaval spawns growth.

Rise Above Upheaval

Sunset shadows across herring gull molt and leaf litter on a grassy knoll at Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake NC (photo impressionism)

Sunday, February 16, 2025

A New Beginning

Countless herring gulls molt heavily in January and February, while they overwinter on Jordan Lake in Central North Carolina. Wrack lines of down accent rocky lakefronts and gossamer whispers of plumage cover adjacent grassy knolls.

As this new year unfolds into spring, it's time to take my feathered friends' annual rejuvenation to heart and reflect on my life's path. Shedding worn out, useless habits and soul-damaging influences in order to mindfully renew spirit-centered beginnings is the first step towards meaningful change—letting my revived, authentic self lead the charge into the last quarter-century of my life journeys.

A New Beginning

Herring gull molt at Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake NC

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Hard Knocks

Hard knocks color life

Be bold lion not cowed lamb

Learn to love thunder

Sublime Thunder

The flood of warm sunset light across the ragged bark edges of an oak tree logging cut contrasts with an encrusted snowcap on said stump to create a visual metaphor of competing life force.

Monday, February 10, 2025

Eventide Harmony

Eventide spills peace

Sunset blaze stays veil of night—

World's in harmony

Every now and then when I experience a spectacular sunset, my heart connects with the lyrical poem Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning. It encourages optimism, celebrates simplicity, beauty, harmony and our kinship with the natural world. I gratefully acknowledge inspiration for my haiku by his oft quoted line, “God’s in his Heaven—All’s right with the world!” from his broader 1841 verse drama Pippa Passes.

The verse drama takes the reader through the impact of virtues like optimism in helping us persevere through life’s challenges. It’s also a mindful monograph about allowing child-like innocence into our lives. The latter may seem at odds with the complexities of the modern world, where we are taught to guard against naivety and vulnerability. Yet, when we embrace the world openheartedly with the innocence of a child, we come to understand more intimately how simple the deepest secrets of existence really are.

Eventide Harmony

Haw River at Bynum NC

Saturday, February 8, 2025

High Plains Roadrunner

Arid lands, short-grass prairies and immense wide-open spaces of New Mexico’s high plains indulge needs for solitude to recharge spiritual growth and recenter life’s journey. The quietude liberates heart and soul. The ambiance inspires poetry, introspection and personal growth.

In countless places the Llano Estacado plateau spills arroyos into dry creek beds, often the only landmarks for intrepid travelers of bygone days across the featureless expanse of grasses and cacti. While eyes lock onto and follow the winding ribbon of sunbaked sandflows artistry in one of the dry watercourses, my heart soars and spirit wings towards the avowed boundless horizon.

By nightfall my more earthbound nature feels at ease and in rapport with a lone roadrunner’s effortless passage through rough-hewn silhouettes of thorny tree cholla that reach into a fiery sunset. Such connections with the natural world nourish my essence. When all is said and done, they are sustenance my heart and soul crave.