Full Moon Flyer and Friends
Deep dark gliding,
Came Little Walter.
To moon-dance among
The seeds of the sun,
Arranged by Big Walter,
So carefully as daylight begun.
The dawn of a new day and
Woodrow arrives all red-bellied,
His scarlet scalp gleaming,
A mosaic feathering of black & white.
Landing vertically to side-eye
For amber nuggets of suet.
Off he flies with his prize,
So gallantly streaming.
The springtime buds of magenta emerge
With the equinox arrival of a pair
Of rust-shouldered winged hunters of
Creatures that patter and slither on the ground.
Perched on a 20’ high observation limb,
They watch vigilantly for movement below -
Ready at the quick to dive and snatch
Their prey with one quiet strike.
As each passing Vernal day
Lengthens with dewy fringed light,
And the flora awakens,
With great anticipation,
Soon come the thick buzzing
Of skilled flying faeries.
They, with iridescent
Emerald green backs,
Glittering ruby throats,
Hover with hunting tongues,
Siphoning sweet golden nectar
From awaiting blooming beauty.
Thereafter,
Orange black-trimmed wings
Flutter their way back from
A long arduous journey.
Pollinating as they go,
They dutifully lay eggs
On toxic host plants to begin
A miraculous transformation,
From creeping larvae
To hanging pupae, and replicate
Back to their majestic selves.
Four generations of Monarchs
Complete the 4800 mile roundtrip
Voyage from Mexico and back.
A faithful avian caregiver,
Wings in from the blue sky above,
With the same color on his back,
And the ground’s soil tone on his chest.
He shows his impressionable youngster
The ways and means of feeding for herself.
The black, spot-chested invaders
Make their skyway descent and
Raucously, ravenously compete to
Consume community mealworms.
One of theirs, the Stoic Starling,
Over many summer weeks,
Makes due with a withered leg,
Only to succumb to a deadly dive
Attack from a watchful raptor.
Cheeks fully puckered,
Gorged with morsels of treasure,
A small striped burrower scampers away,
To stash the goods for winter store,
A bountiful harvest most galore,
For use yet, on another day.
As Mother Earth rotates
From Day into Night,
Its Creatures stir …
Blue Jays squawk,
Gold Finches sunflower sit,
Vultures hover above it,
Gray squirrels raid,
Catbirds bathe,
White-tails graze,
Starlings slovenly gobble.
…
Herons tip-toe about,
Crows gather about,
Swallowtails dance about,
Chipmunks scurry about,
Wrens skip & sing about,
Doves coo about.
…
The Pileated pecks & packs,
The Titmouse seed-cracks,
The Mockingbird bullies,
The Mantis preys,
The Red-tailed plunges,
The Robin berry-bobs.
How enchanting it is,
To end another day upon the
Timely dusk arrival sounds
Of the chipping Cardinal.
But then …
With the moon arising,
The Red Fox screams,
The Raccoon thieves,
The Flying Squirrel sails.
As for Me,
The Big Walter,
Like a creamy diminutive butterfly,
I flutter silently in and about,
My presence not discernible,
Nor remembered.
__________________________________________________________________________
D W Orr
Environmentalist, Weimaraner/Dachshund Companion, Photographer, and Poet-Provocateur
Harford County, Maryland,
Here, where it all began, 254 years ago, in the USA
May 11, 2023
❤️Happy 50, My Sweet Darling❤️
“Deep dark gliding, came Little Walter,
To moon-dance among the seeds of the sun,
Arranged by Big Walter, so carefully as daylight begun”
“The dawn of a new day and Woodrow arrives all red-bellied,
His scarlet scalp gleaming, a mosaic feathering of black & white.
Landing vertically to side-eye for amber nuggets of suet”
“Of rust-shouldered winged hunters of creatures that patter and slither on the ground”
“They, with iridescent emerald green backs, glittering ruby throats, hover with hunting tongues,
siphoning sweet golden nectar from awaiting blooming beauty”
”Orange black-trimmed wings flutter their way back from a long arduous journey”
“A faithful avian caregiver, wings in from the blue sky above,
With the same color on his back, and the ground’s soil tone on his chest.
He shows his impressionable youngster the ways and means of feeding for herself”
“The black, spot-chested invaders make their skyway descent and
Raucously, ravenously compete to consume community mealworms”
“Cheeks fully puckered, gorged with morsels of treasure, a small striped burrower scampers away”
“How enchanting it is, to end another day upon the timely dusk arrival sounds of the chipping Cardinal”
“Like a creamy diminutive butterfly,
I flutter silently in and about,
My presence not discernible,
Nor remembered“
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The Poet-Provocateur
”The Man who sees well beyond the day-to-day Bullshit”
~ D. W. Orr
“To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one”
~ John Ruskin