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Nature, Love, and Solitude
A collection of 24 lyrical poems exploring the natural world, romantic love, solitude, memory, and wonder. Drawing on the traditions of Romantic and Victorian lyric poetry, the collection uses rhyme, meter, personification, and recurring images of forests, birds, weather, moonlight, and the night sky to examine intimacy, reflection, and the individual’s relationship with nature.
Publication is planned for Feb 2027.
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Proem
Although the sun hangs high at noon,
And bright is the light of the gibbous moon,
If bound by city steel,
The body doesn’t feel
Early Morning
I’m most myself in early morn,
Alone beneath the stars,
Unseen yet unforgotten,
Not gone, just hunkered down.
When the Robin
In spring when buds hold back their bloom
And weigh their branches low,
The robin lands on a dogwood limb,
Whose blooms begin to grow.
Greetings, Selene
My lovely Selene,
So glad you have seen me!
It’s morning for me,
But for you it’s good evening.
The Love We Share
When out we hide the love we share
From every wistful friend;
Through time and space our hearts have raced,
While theirs just beat in them.
For Mom and Vincent
Two friends stroll the woodland wide
And stop to listen or walk in quiet;
The small one leaps a log and hides.
My mother walks with her cat beside.
Chimney Swifts
Above, when chimney swifts
Chirp, the day is done—
Beneath the dim horizon
Slips the smoldering sun.
Paradise
A sky of storm can lift the mood
As much as summer sky of blue;
Daydreams play in days of gray
Without the sun and dew.
The Wood
I left my forest peace and joined the daily toil;
My spirit sobbed while leaving the dank and woodsy soil;
It wilted like a wildflower plucked and soon to spoil
Inside a vase without a trace of pine tree sap and oil.
A Stone Inside a Stream
“Like water you must be.”
But I do not agree.
It’s best for me if I can be
A stone inside a stream.
Blooming
The buds grow big while bees are booming,
With meadow rue for miles perfuming
The air as clouds collect and crowd
The sun and lay him down.
Wild Mint
I wandered woods near wild mint,
But never had the slightest hint
Until one morning a flowered stalk
Waved and stopped me in my walk.
The Leaf in Love
In spring through wild woods I strolled
And listened as the robin caroled
Throughout the woven canopy
Of maple, elm, and poplar trees.
Sun Cat
My gray sun cat with the malachite eyes
Bathes in the noontime sun and dries—
Through the deck door a cool breeze flows;
His fluttering fur’s like grass in a meadow.
Setting Sun
Sun, sun, my setting sun,
You gave your day to me.
I hope you feel
I spent it well;
The One Who Runs
Within the morning twilight,
Ahead of the rising sun,
If you know his glow, behold
The one who runs.
Around the Sun We Go?
Although by now we know around the sun we go,
We see it slowly roll along its golden bow;
Although the road we tread will lead us where it’s led,
Could we but pace in place atop the globe instead?
Summer Evening
When summer evening sends a silver moon
And slips it past the curtain to illume
Her throat with pewter thread and pearl festoon,
Her cheek then blooms a blush among the gloom.
Lighter Now Together
If we could choose which burdens drag
Behind us all our lives,
Why would my Love be loaded down
And my knapsack be light?
Where Someplace Now a Downy
The moon shines bright upon the snow
That softly, slowly drifts
And forms a hill upon my sill,
With starlight in the distance.
