New Year's Haiku

How quickly weeds grow,

sprouting up everywhere 

they find our neglect.

Not so with habits.

They must be cultivated 

and tended with care.

Autumn Spectacle

The autumn trees stand as beacons in a gray and dreary land, their colorful leaves fluttering in the wind, floating downward and carpeting the earth, painting our world with their dying, directing our hope to the spring.

Paradox

I shy away from the whetstone of trials
and draw back from sandpaper woes
Yet ease rarely sharpens or shapes me
Perhaps these are friends more than foes.

But how should I face such companions
who seem to inflict only pain
It seems such an odd contradiction
That trials are really my gain.

Tahoe morning

Sunlight bursting upon the glassy lake

   Green grass rising through the melting snow

       Buds forming on the smallest of trees

          Birdsong filling the air

              My heart in tune with the morning.

Decoys

How like decoys my people seem to be,
     with flawless colors and perfect pose, 

          they float on the water like the living, but

               their hearts are oaken, and
                    their eyes made of glass, and

                       nothing short of a miracle can give

                          them voices to sing                 

                              and wings to fly.

Prayer of Examen

Where have my eyes roamed today? 
What words have escaped from my lips?  

What thoughts have entered my mind?    
What stories have captured my heart?

As I rewind my day, please help me to see
Was it focused on You or all about me?

The Fairy Stone

We crested the rise and there entered into a most unusual area of the garden.  There we found a large, circular area of colorful plants and flowers of which the centerpiece was a peculiar fairy stone.  The stone stood very tall and was covered with colorful, glassy figures representing all of the plants and animals that made the garden their home.  As we were marveling at the beauty of the stone, we began to notice that we were not alone.  Small fairies began to appear on every side, rising up from the flowers to hover and look us over.  Never before had we seen so many fairies in one place and it was a bit unnerving.  They began to dip and dive as we turned this way and that to follow their movement.  It was an amazing display of speed and acrobatics and beauty.  We tried to move closer for a better look but were quickly stopped by some warning flights near our heads.  Without any words being spoken, we understood that we were not the lords of this place.  We were guests and what we were witnessing was sacred.  My wife moved slowly to descend from the rise and I followed.  Only upon exiting the fairy circle did we find the words to describe the joy we felt in those moments.

Solano Lake Haiku

A Phainopepla
somewhere in the mistletoe
red eyes watching me.

The Cedar Waxwings
in the upper canopy
whistling while they work.