Surrender

.

Tight-clenched bud

lets go

its knotty grip

and rigid reveries

.

yields its petals

to the pull

of sunlight

through the trees

.

all the while

Gaia smiles

and sends for

honeybees.

.

(c) 1977, 2017  Betty Hayes Albright

.

 

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Haiku’s # 77, 78, 79 – Earth Day

(c) 2008 B. Albright

.

Why just once a year?

Gaia hears our lullaby,

sends a wake-up call.

.

Why just once a year?

Gaia takes a labored breath,

births another day.

.

Why just once a year?

Gaia sighs and holds herself,

loves us anyway.

.

(c) 2014, 2015  Betty Hayes Albright

.

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Heed

(For Earth Day – a re-post)

.

“Where is the light?”

their voices screamed

into the night,

“where has our power gone?”

.

“It’s not the candle,

but the flame

that matters,”

came the swift reply

in answer to their woe.

.

“Change must be the vessel

that carries Gaia

through the storm.

It was your dragging apathy

that drove her off

into the mist

where only those

with unveiled eyes

can still make out her form –

where only those

with opened ears

can still discern her voice:

.

“I am still here,” she tells us,

“so humankind 

will learn to breathe

new life into the dust,

and earth shall rise

in startling vitality.

I am still here, beloved ones,

but now it’s up to you.”

.

(c) 2000, 2017  Betty Hayes Albright

.

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Typhoon – 2013 posting

(This was originally written in 1995 after the devastating earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The title has been changed to “Typhoon”, as we lament along with our friends and neighbors in the Philippines and send up our prayers.)

.

Where do we hide

when Mother Nature

swings her fist

into the mesh

of continuity?

Who engineered these promises

we thought were tempered steel?

The shrapnel of reality

cuts through our paradigm

as we shield our eyes

from fire

and the collapse of illusion.

Where do we draw our water now?

How can we bake our bread?

.  ~~  

We wish the people of the Philippines all the assistance possible in their recovery from this terrible disaster.

.

(c) 1995, 2017 Betty Hayes Albright

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Gaia’s 9-1-1 – 2013 posting

Hello, my friends,

are you there?

This is an emergency.

I need someone

to come repair

my shattered biosphere.

The ocean’s clogged

with plastic sludge,

the beach is cut

with broken glass,

my raging fever

melts the ice

and all the while

my insides churn

as ancient trees

are turned to tables,

wild creatures

robbed of fur

their heads mounted

on walls.

I sob aloud

and strain to breathe

the muddy air

my tears are lava

running through your villages

I’ve lost my balance

can’t control

the atmosphere

it spins and bawls

across the plains

I quake apart

your buildings fall

the dust roars through

our sacred land

my voice grows hoarse

but still I call out

desperately –

Can you hear me now?

 .

© 2013  Betty Hayes Albright

.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(mythology)

.

Image from Bing

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Earthquake – 2011 posting

(Written after the earthquake in Kobe, Japan – 1995)

.

Where do we hide

when Mother Nature

swings her fist

into the mesh

of continuity?

Who engineered these promises

we thought were tempered steel?

The shrapnel of reality

cuts through our paradigm

as we shield our eyes

from fire

and the collapse of illusion.

Where do we draw our water now?

How can we bake our bread?

.

(c) 1995, 2012 Betty Hayes Albright

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