Nature and I Have These Chances

Nature and I Have These Chances Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2020

Night Goose One goose flying at night

Misty darkness of two AM

Muted yodel alone

Why awake

And taking to wing?

Not settled in some field

Face tucked under wing?

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Dreams of Chesapeake.

A burst of novel liberty?

A troubling restlessness?

A search for a lost mate?

A constant hunger off-season?

A God-designed solo?

A production of physical joy?

One goose

And I awake to hear

Perhaps to empathise

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Or imagine.

Lovely planet we have.

Yes.

Wednesday Night…Ten Minutes Out

There’s a storm breeze.

We’ve had it with the City.

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Stifling hot day.

Concrete and heat wall.

Motoring

North of town past Conestogo.

Blackbirds sail over young corn-rows

Surveying the future yield.

Golden wheat reminds of sunnier times

Now black edge of storm floats over.

Mother and daughter – Mennonites

Show expressions of confidence and delight

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As they flick the reins

And a two-horse team

Picks up the pace in the gravel margin.

Our Toyota purrs past these

Clopping fellow travelers.

A pleasant wave.

Farm neighbors further on

Host the early season flower table.

Cash jar to one side – all brilliant yellow

And violet.

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Windows full open now

For the breeze and the fragrance.

Mown hay – a father in the cab

With rosy-cheeked child on his lap

Steering the rig…well, sort of.

A scolding of red-wing

Piercing our space,

Then left behind

Somewhere in the tall grass.

We look for it – the lane

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Try to remember the advance markings

Two tall silos, a long mustard poultry barn.

Reid Woods Drive

Gravel surface, but recently graded

And a favourite side lane

Where we park, watching goldfinches bob;

Crops clapping fragile hands;

And pigeons playing musical chairs

On the barns opposite.

They also sense the rain’s approach.

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Secondary Roads

A good day recently

Driving where we wished

Viewing what we wished

Together.

The fields all green

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Or a blast of canola gold.

Leisurely clouds moving

On ahead.

Atmosphere pierced by

The scolding of a redwing

Or the grinding song

Of a hay wagon

Impeding our progress

But never no mind.

Holiday journeys

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Meant to be slow and thankful.

For each other

And our common interests

Over the years.

Including two precious children

And stories of long suffering parents

Who were always in our corner.

And in the corner immediately right

A bunch of Holsteins

Enjoying their summer’s visit.

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Chewing contentedly, swishing

And making us the main exhibit

For a brief moment.

​https://justhappeneduponthis.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/up-and-gone/

Moose Conscious

Neath the canopy

Of conifer

You have wondered

Is he there

Gargantuan quadruped

Rack so wide

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Passage through trees

Almost other-worldly.

His place this

Munching plodding huffing.

Perhaps noting my trespass

Kodiak leather-shod.

His kind can un-road

A Kenworth or Peterbilt.

Hide beneath delicate

Water lilies.

Stomp down a snowy “yard�

For freer movement

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In harshest of winters.

And he dwarfs me.

Would stride right over me

Un-eventfully.

But usually kinder than that

Except when having female issues.

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(*picture found in gallery at Algonquin Park ON.)

Last Crescent Moon Hung o’er the rooftops

And over the street

Cold-clear in the darkness

Her profile so neat.

She speaks of departure

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A waning regret

Aware of her leanness

But come-hither yet.

And what holds her up there

And Who beats the time?

No engine or cable

For this flight sublime.

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Once full and so festive

Now nearing the void

I scarce hold the memory

Of bounty enjoyed

But she hints at all

Now adorned with a mist

A light still of comfort

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A promise now kissed.

Though black nights are coming

The cycle is sure

She’ll shine in a short while

All gleaming and pure.

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