TODAY
Everything is running on according to
how things are arranged by nature.
Morning suns rise with winds and waves,
Sleeping ones sleep cuddled in caves,
...and like Li P'o has said,
"Peach blossoms and flowing
streams pass away withut a trace..."
Wonderful! This one moment!
Vast, distant, yet known only here. Now.

We played
on the earth
in the ravines
swinging across on green vines
sifting sand through daddy's hair
while he slept prone on the edge of dare.
We played and loved the earth
delighted in it
fell down on our faces to it
snuggledy-hugged it close.
Even during the winter when
cold white snow met our lips
we kissed the cold,
our tongue tasted it.
Like icy cones in summer it tasted good.
Ah the ravines! The ravines!
Swinging across, dropping into their oceans,
climbing their cliffs, scaling their sandy
sides all the way up to places where
breathing becomes rare.
We spread our arms out to all the
space there is and
shouted into its sound of silence.
-dale

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mama used to do that a lot.
Be Mindful I mean.
Even when washing dishes she
took time to notice little roses on the cups,
how the soap bubbles caught diamonds in
them from the sun shining in the window,
and one time she even stopped shelling our
supper peas to show me how beautiful a
pattern the stain made when I spilled a
splash of juice from the bluebery pie onto
my brand new lacy white blouse!
Mama...
"Wherever she went, there she was."

:-) -ovia dale

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_
It's time!
Time for some Spring Cleaning!
Back in long ago days before the way it is now,
We picked a long, warm, sunshiny day and
Got up EARLY in the morning, in fact even before
daylight we were already in the kitchen eating
Biscuits, sausages, eggs, and homemade JAM, then by
the time the sun was halfway up the morning sky,
We would have emptied out the whole house...
Nothing left therein, NO. NOt even a mouse!

Water we hauled, in buckets and tubs
Sand we used, and our cornshuck scrubs,
We cleaned that house from one end to the other
And everybody worked! Even the laziest brother!

Hhahahahahahahahah Oh what FUN!

All our beds and all our quilts,
pillows, sheets, and clothes
Anything and everything nothing left inside
Out in the open it goes!
To be washed and aired the whole day long,
Outside in the sun, and the wind
We beat the beddings with utmost glee,
Then at sundown we brought them back in.

Ah.... SPRING!!! Hhahahahaaa. Oh! What Fun!!!

Spring Cleaning's DONE!!! Oh how sweet it is!!! Everything clean as a
whistle, birds singing, pears, plums, and berries blooming, little green
leaves popping out all over the place, songs bursting forth from the
very earth itself.

Now.
Let's all take off our shoes
And go wade in the creek.
:-)
-ovia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I don't know if there's
anyone else living on
earth today who
remembers it or not,
but I remember it.
I remember the story as
told by grandma Eda
about her mother's time
about an olden age
when a penny was worth a dime.
I remember it well.
I remember an upstairs bedroom
whose windows were
always open
day and night
all summer long.
I remember two little
brown wrens.
I remember a bed, a dresser and a
chest of drawers.
Up there, on top of the chest of drawers
the little brown wrens built their nest.
Of all the places they could have chosen
to build their nest,
they chose the very best.
In and out the windows they flew
In and out.
In and out.
Back and forth through the
windows they flew,
In and out.
In and out.
They built a nest and raised their young
Undisturbed by man,
for the woman who lived in the room
was a nurse with a nurturing hand.
As Eda, who told me the story talked,
she smiled in memory,
and together we watched wrens on the porch,
a thing that's sweet to see.
They built another nest,
(as they had in the days of yore)
in a cardboard house Bernie gave us
just as they did before.
And today from where I sit
from within my little home,
I see the little brown wrens building a nest
as they did in those days long gone.
So if no one else on earth remembers,
I most certainly do,
and I'm writing the wrens today
so Ed'll remember 'em too.

-ovia
April 8,2007

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