Water Droplets On Face Art

urban street with city activity
animal standing in natural pose
still life with everyday objects
The monster (Mt. San Gorgonio) rises in the North, 	all hoary-frost above behemoth shoulders.  Snake-like clouds adorning her, I crane my neck, Gaze fixed past the big white house toward uplifted boulders.
And at the South, like his namesake martyr, Hyacinth (Mt. San Jacinto) has lost his head in cloud.  Burned bones against a blue backdrop
	he wears that legacy proud.  Between the two, another sunrise gleams and beams of brilliant, white-hot day flash forth:  Accentuate Sonora’s west extremes, and last night’s moon forgot to go away.
a painting of a man reading a book
a drawing of a person holding a book and a pen
a painting of three people sitting at a table
In days to come I stood amazed, walking through that forest, at the blazing symphony of color it brought forth, seemingly just for me.  I grew to love my friend’s words in a new way, through the astounding beauty of the spectacle he knew was coming when he said them.  I was young then, and didn’t know I had many autumns ahead of me.
a painting of a man sitting at a table with a book
a drawing of a group of people standing around each other
a sign that reads extra extra read all about it good news
a painting of a man holding a stack of books
Digital plaza
Mountain valley vista
Traditional tea house in garden
Now, those captains must learn what the river will do
when it makes that great turn out of sight.
How it dashes them up on the rocks of the shore
How it spins to the left and the right.
It beats them and breaks them and crushes their pride
Leaves them dizzy and sick and all jumbled inside
‘til they’ve all but forgotten that glorious ride
lying flat on their deck in the sun.
There they lie, drying out in the sun.

As you round the point where the river was bent
and survey the great wideness ahead,
you can see all those captains alone on their decks,
beat and broken and very near dead.
Then the current takes hold and there’s naught you can do
as it drags you down into its maw.
Headed straight for those rocks, you make ready to crash
but at last, you rise up, roll and yaw.

Going back and away, then forward again,
fearing each time, the rocks will prevail!
You’re trapped in a cycling, circling tide,
in an eddy withstanding a gale.
But each time you circle that great whirling tide
and you’ve not hit the rocks or been thrown to the side
and you’re kept from the falls, cascading and wide,
for the eddy’s small mercy give praise.
Give the merciful currents your praise!
a painting of a man sitting at a table working on a laptop
Southeast Asia.  Modern day.  Afternoon rain forces us into the coolness of the little house, surrounded by rice paddies, 
where Grandmother assembles strings of Christmas lights; bound for somewhere.
Young mother watches three children grow,
and wonders:  What will their lives be?
Can’t dream of what she’s never seen; can’t see what she can’t dream.
a drawing of a man reading a book
a painting of a woman holding a bible
a painting of a group of people walking up a hill
Southeast Asia.  Modern day.  This morning the sound of traffic in the street, 
scooters and tuk-tuks, taxis and trucks, was so loud I couldn’t hear my dream.  
So I turned it off and went dowstairs.
Taking in diesel fumes ‘til it hurt to breathe, I found a hawker-stall and ate.
It’s 100 degrees already; soon the rain will come.
Life is all around for us to hold.
Spring will come again
when we forget the winter cold.
Soon will be the summer,
when the evenings linger long
with jokes and quips and camping trips,
a kindred summer song.

	The time won’t last forever, we can see;
	still, we should learn the lesson of the tree.
	In winter snow or summer’s long good-bye,
	trees keep reaching upward to the sky.
a painting of a group of people reading a book
a painting of a man holding a stack of books
serene landscape with mountains and water
still life arrangement of fruits and flowers
wide landscape with natural scenery
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight
A koi pond seen from above, orange and white koi fish swimming among lily pads, clear water with subtle ripples, fallen cherry blossom petals floating on the surface, dappled sunlight