The Silent Sentinel
Just outside a picketed wood fence,
Stands an unassuming witness tree,
Stately and straight at 70 feet tall,
Providing annual summer shade
Across many years past,
For a family of five.
Casting the sad shade of the
Final moments, of a beloved
Spaniel, seized by a brain spasm.
But glad shade was there too,
When two forest fawns nuzzle,
And gray squirrels tread a picket puzzle,
As they balance and flitter their way
From fence post to fence post with gay.
This grand Poplar, periodically
Caressed a setting gibbous moon,
In all her splendid, morning glory.
Welcomed the banded, turbulent Jupiter,
With its own floating quad of Galilean moons,
Arising on a cold, dark February evening.
Seduced a sun-lit August day,
With crystal clear rain
Showering the fresh air, as
Hot shed-steam arose like chimney smoke.
The tough old hardwood remembered,
Years before, as dark storm clouds
Gathered and gusted in from the west,
The air tinged with electricity,
Roared with rolling thunder.
Fortuitously it dodged
A sudden, dry-sky bolt of crackling
Lightening that struck and split
Bark 12’ down its neighboring tree.
Watching with relief, as a duo of dogs,
With Lady Cynthia, their pack leader,
Scampering away to safety.
But have no fear my friend,
None shall pass,
Nor strike again,
For now a pair of fearless
Teutonic Teckels stand
At the ready, as Sentries,
Behind the golden gates of
Entry to the Castle of Orr.
High among the crowned branches,
Granted a Pileated Woodpecker,
His right to drill, drill, drill.
Proudly perched a turkey vulture,
Sun drying its soaring wings
In a shield-like posture.
Ensconced in place, high above,
On a lofty January branch,
A Red-tailed Hawk defiantly roosts,
As a murder of nearby Crows
Squawk incessantly to "Go Away".
The lattice of arched limbs peered over a
Classic Currier and Ives Christmas moment,
As softly falling flakes of snow,
Drifted downward, landing on a
Frisky Fräulein Doxie-Dog,
Tail feathered high,
Grasping her favorite outdoor ball,
While a fellow Deutschland canine,
A galloping female Weimaraner,
Kicked up balls of newly fallen tufted fluffs.
As a darkening dusk settles over
A gray-clouded western sky,
The commanding senior tree
Provides a silhouetted mood,
Framed by a cathedral high window,
Highlighted by a Celtic Cross,
Bearing the name of a
German-blooded family, with a
Deeply infused ancestry of Irish Souls.
A blue March night descends,
Clear and heavy upon the Land.
Through the naked winter
Arms of the Silent Sentinel,
Solar System Eyes peer back
At Us, the Infinitesimal Beings.
Keenly aware, that We, are
Part of a vast Cosmos,
That awaits our Return.
At the base of the giant tree,
Between deep penetrating roots,
The ghost of a young raccoon,
Lies with its body tightly curled,
Shivering through the end of
Another long, cold, starry night -
Struggling, waiting, waiting …
For the Rescue that will
End it All.
__________________________________________________________________________
D W Orr
Environmentalist, Weimaraner/Dachshund Companion, Photographer, and Poet-Provocateur
Harford County, Maryland,
Here, where it all began, 255 years ago, in the USA
August 4, 2024
"Stands an unassuming witness tree, stately and straight at 70 feet tall" (foreground tree).
Note: A majestic Black Walnut tree ranges in the background (smote down by man on 1/14/22).
"Beloved Spaniel"
“When two forest fawns nuzzle,”
”And gray squirrels tread a picket puzzle, as they balance and flitter their way,
from fence post to fence post with gay”
"Caressed a setting gibbous moon"
“Welcomed the banded, turbulent Jupiter, with its own floating quad of Galilean moons”
"Seduced a sun-lit August day with crystal clear rain showering the fresh air"
For now a pair of fearless, Teutonic Teckels stand, at the ready, as Sentries,
Behind the golden gates of entry to Castle of Orr.
"Granted a Pileated Woodpecker, his right to drill, drill, drill"
“Sun drying its soaring wings in a shield-like posture”
"Red-tailed Hawk defiantly roosts"
"Classic Currier and Ives Christmas moment"
"Highlighted by a Celtic Cross, bearing the name of a German-blooded family,
with a deeply infused ancestry of Irish Souls"
“Solar System Eyes peer back at us” - Jupiter and Venus: March 1, 2023.
The year 2040 will be the next time these two planets appear this close together.
“... The ghost of a young raccoon,
Lies with its body tightly curled,
Shivering through the end of
Another long, cold, starry night ...”
(Illustration by D. W. Orr from a stock image)
Pleiades, Jupiter, Moon Conjunction on a Snowy Evening, by D. W. Orr Photography & Poetry
July 1, 2017: BREAKING NEWS: A REAL-LIFE WONDER WOMAN FROM FALLSTON SURVIVES A NEARBY LIGHTNING BOLT STRIKE IN HER BACK YARD!
With a storm thundering and rolling in from the west, Cynthia Orr of Fallston, Maryland, had to let her three dogs out to relieve themselves before the storm broke. Mrs. Orr said, "My two Weimaraners and Dachshund just had to finish their business before I could let them in". Mrs. Orr continues: "Just then, I could feel my hair start to crackle and BOOM!, a bolt came down close to me and lit the sky". That was more than enough incentive for the two Weims (the Doxie had already been taken inside) to skedaddle back into the house with Mrs. Orr following close behind in a duck and cover trot. Mr. Orr located the tree that the bolt had struck just outside the family's fenced in yard - a mere twenty yards from where Mrs. Orr stood as she tried to herd the Weims back into the house. We salute Mrs. Orr of Fallston for her heroic Wonder-Woman like encounter with nature's most striking thrust.
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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