Last Day of February

Low cloud, grey skies, drizzle. Lichen covered stone. Catkins swaying in the breeze. Tiny new buds emerging from winter twigs. Forsythia's first yellow blazes in the shadows and the hardy evergreen sits solid in the rapidly waking earth.

"Tomorrow lurks in us, the latency to be all that was not achieved before." - Loren Eiseley

This Morning's Sounds

From the kitchen, the rumbling of the washing machine sounds like a distant train. The kettle gathers steam, hissing as it comes to the boil. Closer and much quieter is the soft breathing of a cat, sleeping, and if I listen hard, the almost imperceptable tick of a clock. Then behind those sounds and quieter still, my heartbeat.

"Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Newly Ploughed

Rich brown earth, newly ploughed. Turned and ready, it draws me with its fertile promise and vast expanse. It is expectant, awaiting the seed it will nurture and nourish. I want to throw myself down into its warm umber embrace. It is potent. I long to sink my roots, tap the energy I feel there. Ah, soon it will be Spring.

"All that you need is just to be silent and listen to existence." - Osho

Watching the Day Dawn

Up before dawn. Darkness wanted company so I came and sat with it a while in the gentle and heavy silence. And as the pale pink light began to seep across the sky it let go of my hand and slipped away without a word.

"Bound to suns and planets by invisible cords, I feel the flame of eternity in my soul." - Helen Keller