twenty thousand square miles.
Long ago there was a sea here.
Today, looking up from this flat land,
I saw an egret flying past.
It was a lonely sight.
___________________
This rickety old boat drifts on a wide and slow river,
a river that bends into the blue sky.
The boat floats past the village on the far bank,
with the people and the little marketplace.
Time is nothing. The boat drifts on,
past the evergreen trees of the pine woods
and on into the white and fluffy clouds.
a fact that eludes most people.
Night comes and goes with or without us.
Life is short, and don’t kid yourself;
this life is all there is.
So take it all in; the rain, the stars, the moon.
The wind in the trees of the graveyard.
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I hoard silence to use in the passing years.
I love the emptiness of this quiet room,
and I love my grief for its power.
In the shadows and in the dark corners of night
I see the face of my dead son.
His beautiful face.
Just that.
in this wide valley and now
I have nothing left to ask of it.
No questions. And the valley
goes on and on.
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Today’s LittleNip:
As sweet as blueberries, as light as bees; sunrise loves the quiet.
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Our thanks to James Lee Jobe for visiting the Kitchen today on this, the beginning of Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit. See more of James at The Poetry Zendo (https://poetryzendo.blogspot.com/).
__________________
—Medusa
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world—including
that which was previously published—
and collaborations are welcome.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!