Spring Message

I spotted an oriole
across the bog
in maple top

he spotted me back
flew over
perched above my sitting rock

sang his seasonal song
harvest this day
the rest matter not at all.

Ancestor Hunt

Hunting for ancestors
through the mists of time
extremely misty

seeking illusions
royal connections
perhaps to Charlemagne

patrilineal this way
matrilineal that way
multiplying bloodlines

adventurous souls
from Irish premises
Welsh and English hamlets

escapees to a new world
from endemic mayhem
to freer patches of soil

recent DNA clues
relegating many
to unpretentious gentry

most unremembered
under weathered rocks

in forgotten plots

except for the O’Sullivans
several valiant Owens
backwards and forwards

Irish knight Sir Owen
linked to English barons
and back to Norman princes

to lordly half-brother
of William the Bastard
alias the Conqueror

later O’Sullivan heirs
settling near Virginia shores
in sixteen fifty-five

John begat Owen
begat Owen II
begat Charles B. Sullivan

migrated farther south
to Carolina grant
among other clans

Terry, Harrison
Wright, Dacus
Hopkins, Arnold

Cureton, Nash
Berry, Dunklin
Mahaffey, Meares

willing patriots all
to the colonial cause
for self-dominion

memorial stones
in Methodist, Baptist
Presbyterian lots

Meares/Terry/McDowell cluster
seven strata deep
in Pisgah Church ground

mostly farmers
single minister
one known abolitionist

Confederate soldier
teachers, dentist
equal rights activist

likely stubborn folks
fiercely loyal
kind and prideful to a fault

as I
as I
as I

soon to join this family queue
of resilient molecules
scattered across the landscape of time.

Life's Challenge

A honeybee happened by
without a stash of pollen
dissatisfied

buzzing around my ear
asking for directions
to the nearest flower

I pointed to a dandelion
off she went
contented again

why not that easy
to guide our lives
to simplest bounty.

Woodland Hymn

Come, sit with me in the woods
and listen
says the wind
swaying trees and rattling branches

rejoice with us
sing the peeping chorus
percussive rhythmists
melodic twitterers
high-pitched hummers
buzzing swarms
occasional scamperists
needle whisperers
dry-leaf chatter across snow cover

and be glad
be glad
be glad
chant all the forest voices.