Tuesday, April 16, 2024

promises, promises

time slopes
birdsong switches 
from call to answer
and just keeps climbing 

almost lost
in this range of joy
my heart unfurls itself 
and lifts up as an offering
___________________

Pic: I found this funny hybrid (red tail + black body) "fellow in the grass" between meetings and the department's farewell lunch for graduating seniors today. How bittersweet to say goodbye to these people... all these young people who have already done brilliant and difficult work, and are poised to do loving, amazing things in the world. 

7 comments:

Gillian said...

Funny fellow.

Nicole said...

I've never seen such a squirrel, and believe me, I KNOW SQUIRRELS!
It's a sad moment to say goodbye for sure, especially as you've seen so many grow and change, I'm sure.

StephLove said...

I have never seen a two-tone squirrel like that. We have mostly gray ones here, with some black. The only time I saw red squirrels was in Iowa. They were bigger and fluffier than East Coast squirrels. (And there are white ones in Oberlin, as you may remember).

I'm sure the end of the semester is always hard.

Nance said...

Wow, that's one gorgeous squirrel! I remember the stir an albino squirrel caused at Bowling Green State University once.

Rick and I have a contest wherein he counts all the deer he sees, and I count all the hawks I see. But if anyone sees a black squirrel, that person is automatically the winner. Black squirrels are relatively rare in our neighbourhood, but it's possible to see one once in a while on certain roads around other areas of town. (No, I'm never tempted to cheat. I'm too sporting for that.)

I really like the second stanza of your poem--I find myself relating to becoming exhilirated and almost overshadowed by the beauty of Nature in Springtime, forgetting that I have Joy within.

Nance said...

*just here to correct my own typo: exhilarated

sigh

maya said...

Gillian--right :)?

Nicole--You know squirrels :D Tell me more!

Steph--I've never seen a white squirrel... the closest I've come is seeing your picture with the Oberlin mascot!

Nance--Thank you. And I love your game with Rick. It would reset all the time if you were up here as there are so many black squirrels though. (Yes, I hate that moment after pressing publish when typos flash up at me--I've been known to delete the comment and type a new one. haha.)

NGS said...

We have a squirrel in our neighborhood who is sort of the reverse of this! His body is normal brown squirrel color and his tail is black. Crazy!

I SAW THE ALBINO SQUIRREL AT BG that Nance referred. I SAW IT when I was an undergrad!! It was everywhere!!

oh, snap(shot)

Pic: I am well-loved tonight. Max and Huck are "hugging" me.  Earlier this day, I tried to take a cherry blossom family pic outsid...