poem: a harsh season

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Herb Stone

this late summer’s day
sitting among the blooms
of garlic and petunias

admiring their beauty
during a brief respite from
the season’s searing heat

she nearby with a wry smile,
resting on her cane, eyes closed,
lost in a reverie

the past 12 months
of our life’s second half
its own harsh season

mindful that earthly forms
wither and fade
yet souls hold their beauty

grateful for the radical
acceptance and love
of mutual belonging

aware that our most
high Spirit resurrects
in Cosmic harmony of All

yes, in the late summer
of our harsh year, seeing
the Beauty now and to come

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
August 6, 2022

photos by author

Author’s note: The past twelve
months have seen a string of acute
illnesses, chronic health concerns,
and injuries for my beloved. We
weather the harsh season together,
and discover the Beauty that survives
and endures now and to come.

haiku: on one’s own two feet

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Herb Stone

haiku: on one’s own two feet

streaking blue heron
lands on low limb near our heads
inviting presence

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 21, 2022

photo by author at
Radnor Lake, Nashville, TN

poem: a gently healing path back to holistic health (embraced by mother Earth)

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Herb Stone

poem: a gently healing path
back to holistic health
(embraced by mother Earth)

a tapestry of green
with mixed colors dance
before our eyes absorbing us
into the bright sunlight
outside our door

a cool breeze wraps
our neck with the shade
of the large trees
swaying to and fro
engulfing us

for the first time
in too many days
light lunch al fresco
and a short walk to the
koi meditation pool

gently setting us on the
healing path from our
collective dis-ease and
its isolating malaise to
our shared holistic Earth Home

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 11, 2022

photos by author

Author’s note: upon my beloved
and I slowly recovering from
being infected with COVID.

poem: somewhere between solitude and loneliness

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Herb Stone

poem: somewhere between solitude and loneliness

being here now in solitary existence
somewhere between solitude and loneliness
reflecting on recent events and experiences:
aging, disease, injury, separation, siloing,
the world and its totalizing systems

struggling, striving, sitting with challenges,
reconciling the grace of our being,
the preciousness of our life together,
and the amazing beauty of our Earth Home
with tender heart and teary eyes

busy, tired, and weary at times,
continuing at my task knowing
that we can bear it together
through connecting, belonging, and sharing,
grateful for authentic relationships and community

sitting quietly, listening,studying, reflecting, creating,
and connecting continue in this busy season of the suffering
arriving as an unexpected guest at my door,
each invited in and treated with truth and respect

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 21, 2022

art by Andrew Wyeth, ‘Christina Olsen, Triton’

Author’s note: I have struggled to write this, or anything else down, for over a

week. Knowing that sharing one’s suffering is very unfashionable in our

contemporary culture and society of everyone for themselves, I hesitate. I do not

share my poem from the perspective of being a victim, or a denier, or a masochist,
or from a place of apathy. Rather, I share from the perspective of witnessing,

better understanding, gifting, connecting, authentic belonging, and healing in the

tension of our suffering and our joie de vivre! The last three lines of stanza four

are after Rumi’s poem ‘The Guest House.”