Artful exit

                    I was hoping to live through the season,
                      but it's been a tough year from the start;
                          still if I must die, I'm going to try
                         to make my demise look like art.

Leaf me!

                      Why do those eyes keep looking at me?

                      Is it something I've said or have done?

                     But I didn't hurt you, so kindly skidoo,

                          blow away and just leaf me alone!

Dog tired

                There comes a time at the end of the day,

                when you know there's no longer a doubt;

           can't follow my master, can't fun run any faster,

                         a fellow just has to conk out.

Communication

                              It must take a real dedication,
                           to learn how to talk with your hand;
                        you have to be good to be understood,
                                   and also, to understand!

Masterpiece?

                       It could be Vermont in a blizzard,
                        or a painter's delight, which it ain't;
         or the remnants, at night, of a children's snow fight,          
                         but it isn't - it's just peeling paint.

Holly-days

I wonder why, at Christmas time,

we celebrate with holly;

is it because the berries are red,

or just cuz it rhymes with "jolly"?

Love song

                       I love the relation I have with the sea,

                        and I pray that nothing will sunder it;

                        above all I love that magnificent sky,

                      and am grateful for everything under it!

                            As we approach our Silent Night
                               May our futures all be bright!

First!

                         I know it's chilly and dark now,

                      and we're all suffering from thirst;

            and there's no special reason to start a new season,

                        but gee..someone's gotta be first!

Queasy quacker

                        I've been standing out here all morning,
                             not flying by like I should;
                         I'd rather be out and swimming about,
                           but right now I don't feel so good.

Rapt

                             If I lived my life as a teacher,

                       and my students just created tension,

               I think that I'd pray that some students some day,

                             would give me this kind of attention!

Spectator

                          Ah yes, in earlier days, of course,

                            to be out in the surf was a thrill;
                       but the older I grow, the less I'm below,
                       and the more I just watch from the hill.

Brain study

                      Sometimes I think if they looked in my brain,

                        there'd be something like this they would find;

                          and I'd worry , then, what I'd do to a friend,

                               if I gave him a piece of my mind!

Silver shades

                 It's hard, when we've lost our summertime greens,

                               to brighten these wintry days;

                         but now we have fun to just let the sun

                               show off our silvers and greys. 

Dreamboat

                         That's all I want for Christmas,

                             to go out on the deep blue sea,

                  to spend all my time on a boat that's all mine, -

                         See, -its already painted for me!

Tree talk

                            I never noticed the lad before,

                            the little round fellow next door;

                          but we've gotten to be a real family.

                        now that we're all that's left anymore.

Angel?

                     You can guess by the glint in her eye,

                      and the fire in her flowing red hair,

                  she's no doubt a devil to momma and dad,

                           but she sure is an angel here.

Diversity

                      When I see a rich assortment of leaves,
                         with all of their shapes and designs.
                         I wish I could ask Mother Nature
                             whatever she had in  mind.

De-throned

                     When I saw that this monster had  fallen,

                          that all things bow to the weather;

                      I saw it was true that the mighty fall too,

                         and somehow it made me feel better.

Happy!

                           When I feel a bit under the weather.

                               and the future looks a bit dim,

                         I get a jag on just seeing this dragon.

                               and I want to be like him!

Menagerie

                                  What kind of crazy jungle

                        would turn out such beasties as these?

                 And what will they do when the season is through,   - 

                                go back to live in the  trees?

History

                         You may think papyrus are useless,
                         but check on your forebear's history;
                       without our stems to write on by them,
                        your history would still be a mystery.

Nap time?

                      I know that they're all fellow seagulls,

                            and they act together like sheep,

                     but it's only midday and  they're acting this way,

                                so why are they all asleep?

Lonely

                           I know that the season is over,
                     and I know that my friends are all gone;
                    I know that my tree is all through with me,
                            then why am I hanging on?

Where am I?

                       What is it, what suddenly happened?
                              I thought I was feeling fine,
              but the shore's all turned gray and is drifting away,
                             I must be losing my mind!

Hungry

                                  Hey lady, where are you,

                             with all of us chickies in need?

                        Do we have to say it's that time of day,

                             Please hurry and put out the seed!

Color blind?

             Most times, when you see Mother Nature's designs,

                          her colors get better and better;

               but, once in a while, do you question her style. - 

                   are there some that just don't go together?

Oops!

Sky signs

                              I get a message each morning,
                             when I see the signs from the sky:
                The streaks say "keep going,, the way that you're going.
                          don't slip down or aim up too high"

Mini moments

                         What fun to make miniature houses,
                           when you live in a house all alone;
                   you can make stories of passion and glories,
                         and pretend they are all of your own.


                                               (art by J Bonelli)

Encounter

                          We stopped and looked at each other,
                                as chance passers-by will do,
              and the cock of his ear made the message quite clear,
                                  "I belong here, do you?"

Squirrel's squib

                             I like being made out of metal,

                          it saves me some problems that way;

                            I can eat like a rat and never get fat,

                                and no one can shoo me away.

Next…..

               You thought that once Thanksgiving was done,

                  you could hide your head under the cover;

             then you find that, alas, when one holidays' past,

                      you just have to start on another!

Rare rug

                     There are multiple kinds of carpets,

                           I couldn't describe them all;

              but when all's said and done, there is really just one,

                        that can only be seen in the fall.

Gratitude

                   If you asked me what I was thankful for,

                               I'd give you a very long list;

                        but, for a start, this one has my heart,  -

                               to live in a land like this!

Painted peace

                          How is it that some simple objects,

                                 in a quiet waterfront scene,

                 can be transformed so much by an artisans touch

                              to achieve an effect so serene.

                               

                                                        (thanks to Joanne Horton)

Bird banter

               "Have you ever been on a bureau before?"
                    "I don't think I have, have you?"
           "well, the finish is fine and I like the design, -
                  but is there something we're s'posed to do?"

Pathways

                    I looked at these ducklings today, and thought,

                            that, whatever journeys we take,

               does it bother our minds what we're leaving behind, 

                           the paths that we leave in our wake?

Beetl-ing

                                   If a beetle had a battle,
                                      a battle in a bottle,
                                      I wonder if the bottle 
                              would defeat the beetle's battle?

Bridge of sighs

                         To think I was once a  real beauty,

                              passing over a turbulent stream;

                  now, in a few years, I'll have just disappeared, -

                          and there will go somebody's dream!

Leav-ing

                    Well, we had a good time on our treetops,
                          and enjoyed wearing colors for fall,
                    but now it seems clear that our exit is near,
                         so goodbye and godspeed to you all!

Sky Quilt

                         Now who got up and wove that sky?

                          and where did they get the cotton?

                    If that was my sky, and the weaver was I,

                            it wouldn't be soon forgotten!

Welcome weather

                      It may foul things up on the highway,

                        and maybe it backs up some drains;

           but with all the crops dying, and dry hills all crying,

                               I say hooray, let it rain!

Weird wooing

                         It seemed I was watching a courtship,

                             of some antediluvian pair;

               I'd like to have stayed,  watch him woo the maid,
                        but he might not have wanted me there.

Window wonder

 

                        I never thought much about windows,

                      they never, it seemed, showed much class;

                  then a quick shaft of sun highlighted this one,  

                             wondrously carved out of glass!

birds of a feather...

                  All the white birds on one strip of the shore,

                             all the black birds on another;

                    the way they are parted, - is this how it started?

                        Can't we trade their path for another?

Soft spot

                                Even along the breakwater,

                      where storms and high seas set the pace,

                          its refreshing to see, in the piles of debris,

                               that softness still has a place!

Doomsday?

                 When I saw those threatening clouds one night,

                            I wondered if we were all done; 

                      but with the dawn the menace was gone, -

                            I should have trusted the sun!

Rain art

                           I must say I miss the rainstorms,

                          that painted my pictures for me;

               no need to choose among reds, greens or blues

                          the rain fused them all into "tree". 

Lion's tryin'?

                                     What is this lion up to, 
                         while he's s'posed to be guarding the gate?
                      It looks like a yawn ,  was he woken at dawn?, 
                                  or is it something he ate?