yesterday's walk

i went
to see
to look and find

perhaps a slant of light
through one leaf
listless and alone
provoking of
praise

or a thistle
sending off
it's seedlings

but it was in the stirrings
of the morning
that the gift lay

a cardinal's song
from bushes
brown

then from treetops
to the east
a distant
woodpecker's tapping

a solo each
clear, in the quiet
of the cold
blue morning

the lab puppy
full grown
but still a little boy
rushed by
nose to the ground
panting heavily
barely able to keep up
with himself

then leaves underfoot
soft the sounds
of their pressing
to the ground


*Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth his handiwork. . .
Day to day pours forth speech. . .