SURPRISED BY MR. SNAIL

It rained the night before

       and I sat at my writing place

          early that fresh spring morning

  pondering a pithy piece   and was

        much engrossed...

  when all of a sudden    on the ornate

             window ledge

  a big fat snail appeared  and of all 

       things there at near eye level...

  It surprised me and who knows

      how  he got that high!

          Why did he do the climb?

  Forgetting what I was about, for 

       I was mesmerized and he had

          only to crawl five feet

  and we'd be eyeballing each other

             and here he came

          crawling along the ledge, toward

               and oblivious of me

   Being somewhat of a poet I began

        to think of meanings and things

            and questions came to mind--

   ---What is a snail's purpose in

          being on earth?

   ---Does he know...does he  wonder?

   ---Is he in a hurry to get it done?

   ---Do snails love and help fellow

          snails?

   ---Do they ever get in a hurry...

          or get high blood pressure?

Then...

   ---Do snails, er, sort of marry and

         have baby snails? 

   ---Did the Creator have committees

         of angels to help design the

           critters of the world?

   ---What's it like to spend half the

          time, buried in cold lawns in

           winter?

   ---And coming out in summer,

         mostly only when it rains?

   ---Snails seem to get sticky---do

          they bathe enough?

   ---Of snails and men--is there any

          similarity?

    When BE refilled my coffee cup

      I never noticed...and being  lost in 

         a sort of reverie---I thought

    to myself: "Maybe tiny creatures

       deserve to be noticed...and

         written about..."

  Then I looked...and saw...and 

     realized...that in that whole time---

        my snail had come...

             only a foot.

--------

By Mil

Art by Karen M.

16 APRIL 19

THE YELLOW DAFFODILS and THE "DAPPLED LIGHT" OF SPRING...

 

That late-in-February date
             it came a light snow
one long cold winter night and the next
   morning (ah!) crocuses  were
             peeking through the snow
in the flower bed    a few days
   later a big beautiful white-wing dove
showed up on the bird grain
    just outside my "writing window"
            and I said to myself:
"Spring is here....once more!"

But then, almost the worst cold wind
    ever seen or known in these
        parts    in late March    came in

  and blew all day and all night---
as if straight from Barrow or the Yukon...
      I put on my heaviest flannel shirt
as fireplace fires permeated the air... and
     retreated to the warm cozy attic
            with a good book   and got under
the bunk quilts (from grandma)

This went on...warm and cold, warm
    and cold,   it seemed like for days
and antsy-early-tomato-growers
         couldn't wait    and planted early
one warmish day   but. the winds blew
    and the  therm hit twenty-eight....

But then... suddenly (it seemed)
    just the other day     weather changes
happened all at once---it was still...
          and warmer...and peaceful...
and a whippoorwill  sang from the pines...
     swallows were seen returning...
my big beautiful white-wing dove
           was back on the grain
outside the window...  white lilacs
   with their unmatched aromas
 permeating the neighborhood...
            Bright yellow dadfodils
were  seen everywhere     and then
     I saw on my writing place,
as the sun rose higher in the sky---
    "The Dappled Light"  and I knew:

Spring is finally here!
--------
MIL
14 April 2019

MOONED AGAIN THIS SPRING...BY THE SAME DOVE

While sitting at my "writing desk"
   the other spring morning
right here beside my "writing window"
    with the soft, gentle light
of an early hour so-soothing coming in...
    and with the stash of bird-grain
hanging barely six feet away---
    I was writing away and waiting
for breakfast with the birds   and
    being quite occupied...

When "Swish, Bang, Boink!!" I tho't
    a big gray chicken had made
a crash landing iinto the window...
    and onto the grain...and there he sat
in all his majesty   but it was one
    of nature's most-beautiful
and miraculous creations  and check--
    not showy or ostentatious  but
a subtle blend of grays and blues
     with a white trim   swept back
along under his wings   streamlined...

Already pecking away, hungry, as if
    he had been out for an early
wake-up flight   and he was a
    chubby one   and paying me,
with my mouth open gaping at him--
    no attention      whatsoever

This fine dove reminded me
    of my last year's dove which
hung out here  and was a sort of
     a bird-friend   until when the
cold came he headed off to S.A.
                  and
the more I studied this one-- I tho't--
    "It could be MY dove!"
from last year, tho' a little older,
    fatter, and maybe wiser..."
But   how did he remember how to
    return here?

Under my breath I murmured:
    "Welcome home my friend,
we left the grain out for ya' "

He must've heard me.  
  and as if he had   he suddenly
turned and gave me a
   friendly moon  and I knew

Yes! It was "our dove!"

He had come back, for one
    more spring!
---------
MIL
6 APRIL 19