The Seasons

Sparkling spring spontaneous and bountiful
Soft summer rich with the milk of mother-earth.
Autumn surrender, gentle and slowing.
Winter stillness standing within the solitude of my heart’s sleeping.

Contents:

  • Vibrant; frosty; pure:
  • Spring
  • Now the birds fill the woods with their springtime songs,
  • Summer
  • May the flowers in your garden grow in abundance –
  • The sky was blue
  • Guardians of the Morning Sun and a Night of Peace

AutumnInspiration

  • A rain of leaves fills the space between summer and winter

WinterWalking

  • The morning is heralded by a chilled breeze long before the grey light of dawn.
  • Deepest Winter
  • Washing with your clothes on, yes I’m an expert at that.
  • A March Hare in December!

Our daily interaction with nature is dramatically influenced by the changing seasons which have traditionally gained special consideration during early education in school environments and even more personally during free-play outdoor experiences in natural surroundings throughout our lives. The seasons present us with a rhythmic embrace that encourages metaphor and a unification of past present and future. The natural environment presents a rich tapestry of contrast and predictable associations. Our yearly journey through the seasons stimulates inner meditation and nurturing dynamics that are generally beyond our control. Even the cold and dark winters of hibernation give us a time for introspection and quieter regimes.

  • A simple yet very effective structure for poetic consideration of the seasons is as follows.

Consider your own most memorable experiences that relate to special seasonal qualities then write three key words that are thereby representative of each season.

Using these three key words, write a short verse or piece of prose on each of the four seasons.

The author’s example is as follows:-

Vibrant; frosty; pure:         Cool is the frosty morning,

Vibrant is the air that I breathe,

And with crystal purity a new day is born.

 

Sweet – singing – daffodils            Bright is the swing and the sway of the daffodils display

Today is ours to dance and sing without delay

So sweet are the moments of a fine spring day.

 

Growth; warmth; fruits.                Long are the days for joyful encounters,

Summer fruits cling to the vine for extra time.

Abundance grows under the warm rays of the sun

New life has begun.

 

Peace; celebration; letting go        Released from the hurry and scurry,

Wise are those who celebrate a time for letting go

And breathe out into peaceful reflection

The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things, and the work there of is full of the glory of the Lord. Ecclesiastes 42:16 [The Bible – Authorised King James Version; Oxford World Classics 1998.]

 

‘In our lives we must learn that we cannot always live in the spring time of the rising of new sap, or the summer of growth and formation; we cannot always live in the autumn of rich fruit bearing, or in the winter of rest or seeming deadness. Each of these seasons has its place, and each has its place and all are independent and necessary. Then there is the pruning. This is necessary but painful.’ [The way of love by Brother Ramon SSF; Marshall Pickering, 1994: 148]

Spring

Now the birds fill the woods with their springtime songs,
While winter commands a cold obedience over nature’s optimism,
And wanders and wails among the silent trees
That stand meditating upon our return.
The children came again for awhile to play and roam among sticks and stones.
They played with the dogs, walked along logs
and watched Tom fall in the bog.
They saw and felt the mist creeping into the valley as they left
Carrying woodland contentment and wearing moments of peace,
Holding something special.

  • Some poetry may begin with a selection of descriptive words that express different aspects of a particularly moving experience or topic of interest. These words can then support the creation of a piece of poetry or prose. The poems below continue to explore the rich sensory experiences and comforts offered by the changing seasons.

Do you

Do you wave at the daffodils with gratitude for their spring filled joy?
Do you playfully dance with the butterfly celebrating summer’s abundant sweetness?
Do you try to catch the autumn leaves as they greet their timely and colourful transition?
Do you sit with winter under the Great Oak, leaning against its peaceful strength?

The Colourful Courting Chaffinch

All day he flies at my window
Competing with his reflection.
Crashing his body in a non-sense battle of supremacy.
So persistent, so beautiful so devoted to his cause.
Sacrificing his own wellbeing for the chance to raise his off-spring
As servants of creation,
Songbirds celebrating natural beauty –
[Giving purest blessings to everything; unconditionally.]

Summer

  • May the flowers in your garden grow in abundance –

Sharing their colourful joys

And showering you with their sweet smelling melodies.

  • An advanced creative writing activity is one where three or four randomly chosen words are presented to an individual person, or a group who then put them into a piece of creative writing.

In the poem below the five underlined words were selected by others who then presented the words: sky,luminous,existential,instrumental,reminiscent, to be incorporated within a poem. The poem below was written by the author as a solution to this challenge.

The sky was blue
The day was long
The sunshine was luminous and warm;
The trees where bathing in an existentialsolitude
Everything was instrumental to the tomorrow’sdawning
Yet reminiscent of today

Guardians of the Morning Sun and a Night of Peace

As the dawn melts night into day
A warming delight awakens my ears
With carefully sequenced melodies
And crystal sweet tones that awaken the sun.
The dawn celebration floods over my dreams
Wrapped in delicate frames of humility
A nectar of joyous enthusiasm,
Delights the shyness of early morning
With a simple clarity that reframes
My tomorrow as an awakening of today

The day is done, the night has begun
Within tumbling cascades of soft thunderings
Comforting tones from wondrous movement
Call out and embrace the ever awaiting beach.
That majestic presence the voice of the waves
The Mantras of the sea,
Calm my body and still my mind
I surrender to their momentous repetition,
These variations of infinite sooth my soul.
A lullaby that meditates on moonlit
Dissipates my today into the night seas.

Autumn Inspiration

A rain of leaves fills the space between summer and winter
With an animated spectacle of colourful movement.
In solo flight they race one against the other,
Undaunted in their recklessness, up and down spinning around.
Momentary stillness is quickly challenged into activity
As the excitement of further flights are aroused.
Faster flurries are heralded with rustlings of anticipation
Before they wilfully greet the emptiness between the earth and sky,
Which preceding seasons failed to accommodate.
This play space which is rarely entertained
Now becomes a living performance of enthusiasm.
The closing scene of separation and ultimate disappearance
Is camouflaged with a finale of golden glory.
An interval of extravaganza before winter coldly captures summer’s opulence
And again claims a bare stage within the chains of time.

Winter Walking

The morning is heralded by a chilled breeze long before the grey light of dawn.
I hear the cold that has stiffened with its touch, all it has found unprotected.
My feet awaken the crystallized grass into a performance that reminds me of shinny sweet papers.
My eyes become captured by ‘natural art’, ice-surprises moulded by ordinary structures and unique opportunities.
Random  droplets gently descend from obscure places with a promise of awakening the frozen from its ridged stillness.
The ground gleefully punches at the feet that dare to stamp upon it. No more is it safe to kick a stick or pick up a brick.
Yet still the sun undauntedly strains to shine its’ warmth into another below zero day.

Deepest Winter

Washing with your clothes on, yes I’m an expert at that.
Obsolete pyjamas forgotten in the draw –
A new bedtime ritual of how many jumpers to be worn.
Calor  Gas in sure to freeze to a stop when one desires something hot.
Warm nourishing meals from the wood stove tell a new story
Of lukewarm soup and charcoal black pies still cold in the middle.
Do I have water! Yes, White-water!
Buckets full of it outside my door, It’s called SNOW!

5-4a-1A March Hare in December!

What’s up with you today!?
You’re as scatty as a March Hare
And it’s only just December.
Take care not to miss winter’s wisdom,
For in your intensity I fear some demise.
Walking the cliff edge closes the hand of predictability.
Jumping on ice is sure to break nature’s concentration.
Racing the surging stream is always going to make you the looser.
Come! Share a warm moment,
Come sit by the fire.