Remembering Sappho

To find a tree in the forest

One must have an old dog

To sniff every bush

And look over each rock

And not walk in a straight line

Or with a map

Or even with a straight memory

The time to spend all day

Is what's needed.

new years wishes

are like a breeze on a January morning
pushing brown oak and faded red maple leaves
in circles sliding on the snow:

clarity
when the wind stops and reveals the silence
behind the clutter of action and forms

beauty
as the sun clears the morning cloud
and not from without, but inside it comes

love
of all varieties as the wind warms in months
and buds the trees with new life.