A tri-colored heron
Eyes an unmanned fishing line
Dreams an easy lunch
Sea Wall Sunrise
Sea wall Sunrise
Waiting for the sunrise
On the St Augustine sea wall,
I am not alone
Propping a camera or phone
On the stone balastrade.
The hints of dawn a dusky mauve, a touch of peach glints across the calm water.
Yachts, sails furled sit at anchor.
All winds from yesterday’s storms died down to a bare breeze.
The blush across the East spreads to a jet trail, a slice of cloud.
A red-orange flame flares
A ball of fire shoulder’s itself,
up over the barrier island: caught in a click of the lens.
He steers a path across the water almost to our feet—
The day begins. DMB
Filed under 1
A Season of Grief
A Season of Grief
a fog clouds the trees behind the house
a fog clouds my thoughts
a fall landscape
a fall season
the unreasonable sense of dying
leaves drifting brown
barren limbs tremble in the wind
fragile stalks of grass
break before spearing heaven
life passes
memories fade in a mist
hidden the warmth of the sun
hidden the flowering of hope
buds nipped by a hard frost
the loss of someone beloved
when does resurrection come?
Filed under Life
After Psalm 56:8
Collected tears in crystal bottles
Liquid diamonds, precious sorrows
A record kept, an accounting
Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters
A healing to come.
See His light shine through
Each and every one—
Refracting grief, pain
Into hope, peace, love
And in eternity: joy.
No Roof
The Roofless Church
New Harmony, Indiana
Stroll through the open doors:
be welcome to pause, to pray,
to meditate— Who your God Is.
Unfettered, unchained
not to be contained, constrained
by man’s strictures or structures.
He blows off the ceilings
of our concepts: Almighty God
the Alpha and Omega of being.
A fountain of water symbolizes
the living water that flows
from nail-scarred hands.
He who was borne up on a cross
bears us up in love.
His compassion, his mercies—
no temple boxes Him in.
He resides, He builds His temple
in human hearts.
Look out, Look UP.
Become His dwelling place.
c.2022 Darlene Moore Berg
No More Drama
“No More Drama”
Two cardinals, one male, one female
painted on a square of plywood.
An artist copied from a quilt block
to hang on a wall, a house, a barn.
She looks left, He right
backs overlapping.
Beaks pointed, decidedly
in opposite directions.
Perceptions— have they argued
or are they keeping watch, on guard,
covering for one another.
Perhaps on lookout for predators.
No nest visible in this simple scene.
The title hints of disagreement.
I found it at a small town
farmer’s market before checking
the title printed on the back.
For me a symbol: the state bird
of where I was born, educated,
met, married my soul mate.
We have each other’s backs.
Forty years and counting.
c. 2022 Darlene Moore Berg
A Shaft
A Shaft
A lone feather
crosses a graveled path
a quill with its own
unwritten story.
A moment of fear?
A moment of glory?
Something left behind.
Do not disturb
this mystery:
its flight, its life.
Pass by.
c. 2022 Darlene Moore Berg
Filed under Nature
May and Flowers: A Mother’s Day Poem
May and Flowers
May, and its that season
when flowers abound
and children gather bouquets
and garlands all around
to celebrate Mothers
bringing whatever comes to hand
from field or garden:
tokens of love to present
with hugs and kisses.
And the grief of who misses
a child her mother or
a mother her child
will not, cannot be forgot
and the ones who would be
mothers— if only, if only.
God Bless them all each one.
Filed under Seasonal
Lessons in the Lilac
Lessons in the Lilac
What could be more beautiful?
The warbling of the birds,
the scents of the flowers
or the lilac blooms themselves?
I came outside to admire
the lilacs in their full glory,
inhale their light perfume.
Instead, I stopped enthralled
by hidden choristers:
birds singing in excited
conversations
one musical trill to another
from deep within the shrubbery.
An echo from across the way
answers—
A moment in harmony.
Hope in Dark Times
Hope in Dark Times
If you peer out one window
all you may see are grey clouds
dark, foreboding, swirling.
If you peek out another
in the opposite direction
note a patch of blue surfaces
the sun gilds a spot on the hills.
The clouds will retract
the day will brighten.
And the Son will come.
We have his Word on it.
Darlene's Poetical Pursuits 