cooped up so long
due to inhospitable climes,
poor health, contagion

now stepping out into a Fallish nip,
on the breeze, more agreeable climes,
a brilliant walk at long last

my beloved and I seeking benefits
of a good trek on a good day,
lifting lagging spirits

the beauty of the season’s change
and its’ bounty greet us along the trail,
bearing witness thus sustaining

hedge apples, blue cardinal flower,
wingstem, bulrush, honeysuckle
berries, milkweed seed pods abounding

industrious insects scattered
gathering pollen as diapause approaches,
riotous activity aplenty

reflecting in the seasons
life’s paradoxical cycles,
all things interconnecting, working together

nature’s holistic rhyme, rhythm, and flow
fully on display this day,
entering, soothing our very souls

oh thy saving grace may we accept
being instruments of your peaceableness,
Earth beings in the great Cosmos belonging

a creature in the house of the living God

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
September 14, 2021

photos by the author

Author’s note: “a creature in the house of the
living God” is from the poem ‘Pax’ by D.H.
Lawrence.