Renee Espriu

August 12, 2021August 12, 2021

The Chestnut Tree

There is a behemoth of a Chestnut tree
now standing alongside my broken road
amidst the passage of time it’s seen it all
never made to fall nor can it be budged

houses built long ago now aged with time
gardens planted and many fences built
between slats of a fence it does not bow
with heavy boughs it’s always stood witness

whilst the wind is causing its’ branches
to bend & sway in rhythmic dances
you can hear the rustling of chestnuts
like tiny instruments softly stirring

waiting for another day another year
to find their freedom is in their falling
each twisting round in another season
to tumble soundlessly to the ground

July 23, 2021July 23, 2021

Rapids Shining Like Diamonds

The languid Naches River
may seem spiritless or slothful
as it meanders on it’s way from the Yakima River

but as it becomes the Tieton River
with rapids swift and shining like the sparkling
of diamonds in the sun’s reflections
it can become treacherous
to those unbidden

Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

June 30, 2021June 30, 2021

Where Words Cannot Follow

There is trepidation in every choice in love
where words cannot follow your heart’s desire
during the heat of day that melts into night
where the songs of night birds penetrate

your dreams in the guise of that which inspires
you to reach greater heights on plateaus above
that keeps you falling into the darkest depths
in deepest canyons where you will climb to the light

for your search is never ending, always beginning
in the brisk clean air of a morning’s chase
of fleeting images now entwined in your memory
of rapids in a swiftly running pristine river
the smell of wood smoke upon your waking

to all the possibilities that perch upon words
that carry the emotions that dissipate quickly
as though clinging to the morning’s mist
evaporating with the heat the sun delivers
only the fragrant air of the trees remain

A Friend’s Photo Created As Art

June 8, 2021June 8, 2021

The Killdeer and Red Clay

The Killdeer takes short running steps
in the grasses of Wyoming, reminiscent
of the Sand Plover on the beach
a sandy shore sparkling in the sun

singing their short high pitched song
creeping stealth but hesitating
then stopping to take in their
grassy surroundings

this they do each day routinely
as I take my walk in the heat of day
the winds gusting around me
that threaten but do not sway

for the scenery is new to me
a visitor here, as I admire contrasting
greens with that of the red clay earth
touched by iron oxide in Nature

in a landscape seeming barren, lacking
stretching toward the horizon line
is still teeming with life unseen
beauteous if you but take time to see

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021

The Sky So Close

This evening when I took my dog out I stood in awe
as I have done very few times in my life while looking at the sky
the clouds of gray and white as the sun broke through
I have felt this before but so rarely
I felt as though I could touch the very blue of the sky
as though it was so close it became more solid before me
instead of part of the Universe that surrounds me
the clouds felt the same as though they were so very close
I might touch them and feel the mass of them
even though they drifted about me and did not stay still

there may be one who causes everything in life
to look more beautiful than it has ever felt before
when I was a very young girl before everything changed
I might have looked at Nature in such a way
in wonderment of its very being
but now, incredulous as it may seem and it does
my world is as beautiful to me as when I was a girl
a world that holds me in awe and I am entranced
by the mystery of it, the magic of it
and life now begins anew

Image Taken From Public Domain Photos & Created As Art

March 27, 2021March 27, 2021

Awakened in Time

There are moments when time seems to stand still
to those of us who are trapped in its’ wake
as though our boat has lost one of it’s oars
thus enabling numbers of concentric circles
forming a whirlpool, disadvantaged proportions

where time seems to be held equally captive
in a time warp as though another universe
holds sway unknown to us until we are crossing
it’s unseen boundaries causing ripples
across the water a stone casually tossed
in by those onlookers unsuspecting

for we are unheeded until a life changing event
spins us ’round for us to suddenly take notice
of all gone unseen in Nature’s wonderment
and it is then we see clearly life’s window
open before us at breathtaking possibilities
to realize how long we have been away

Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021

Laughter and Dancing

They met still young before children arrived
with love in their hearts and stars in their eyes
a future unfurled beneath sunrises, sunsets
a world of youth left behind in their wake
with dreams or hopes that hid in the mist

of days that rolled out into months and years
enhanced with laughter and bittersweet tears
but he laughed and she danced to the music sweet
of life’s changing Seasons a tentative beat

times were a wash with hardship and longing
of dreams sought, built on sand always shifting
where the sun might shine bright in her eyes
she would dance, be young and he would sigh

once were parted, now a story of one more chance
he is laughing as he is watching her dance
& if you listen closely to the heavens above
are entwined in the sunset, both still in love
where eternity unfurls and the sun has risen

This poem dedicated to my dad who passed away March 13, 2021. A long life of laughter. He will be missed.

The Photo Taken is My Own of My Dad and I a Few Years Back.

February 24, 2021February 24, 2021

Tiniest Hummingbird Wonder

The tiniest of hummingbirds
hummed to within my eyesight
hovering in the brisk air
of early morning

taking perhaps a tiny breath
with every beat of its minuscule
heart’s beating

& before I could take a breath of my own
sped to a tree branch distant
to be settled silently there
resting ever so briefly

then magically disappearing
from my vision but leaving
behind the wonder

Image Taken From Public Domain Photos & Created As Art

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021

Snow Abates & Winter Remains

The snow is nearly gone now in the aftermath
of the effects of storms in a culmination
of microscopic snow flakes each unique
in their beauty as Nature’s creation
that left a deep blanket of white

leaving once white snow dirty, colored gray
after cleaning the air we breathe, soaking
up dirt particles from the landscape
of houses, cars, fences

even farm animals tidied up in the washing
but the air smells cleaner in the sharply
intense cold that remains a brisk reminder
Winter has not quite gone through an open door
leaving an entrance for Spring’s arrival

The Photo Below Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art