.
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
.
Posted in Poetry 2010 - present, tagged destiny, enlightenment, flowers, Gaia, Mother Nature, nature, poem, Poetry, spirituality, sun, surrender on July 23, 2017| 15 Comments »
.
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
.
Posted in haiku or senryu, Poetry 2010 - present, tagged Earth Day, Gaia, Love, Mother Nature, poem, Poetry, responsibility on April 22, 2015| 6 Comments »
.
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
.
Posted in Poetry 2000 - 2009, tagged Earth, Earth Day, Gaia, light, Mother Nature, poem, Poetry, spirituality on April 22, 2014| 8 Comments »
(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
.
Posted in Poetry 1990's, tagged disaster, empathy, helplessness, Mother Nature, poem, Poetry, typhoon on November 10, 2013| 6 Comments »
(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
Posted in Poetry 2010 - present, tagged ecology, emergency, environment, Gaia, global weather change, help!, Mother Nature, poem, Poetry, pollution, violation on October 30, 2013| 12 Comments »
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)
.
Posted in Poetry 1990's, tagged Earthquake, Kobe, Mother Nature, paradigm on August 18, 2011| 2 Comments »
(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