HOMELESS IN SPRING

Homeless in Spring

The cardinal’s feathers contrasted
sharply with the hedge bush.
He flitted noisily nearby
until the buzzing hushed.

In disarray, the bush fell
to the daisy-dotted ground.
A hand reached to gather the limbs,
then stopped at a soft, cheeping sound.

A nest of twigs and twine–
home of featherless bird babies–
once secure in the fork of the limbs,
now lay scattered in the daisies.

The cheep–cheep of the birdies
could no longer be denied.
The big man picked them up,
and with no one looking, cried.

© Freeda Baker Nichols

“Thy fate is the common fate of all, into each life some rain must fall . . .” Quoting from “The Rainy Day” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882)

 

 

Bluebird scouts for a house

bluebird scouts
small vacant houses
springtime

© Freeda Baker Nichols

A Time to Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When green leaves broaden on the cherry tree
and cherry blooms have started to depart,
it’s May and all things beautiful and free
are born anew like love inside the heart.

I watch soft clouds
like cotton
stretch so thin
they disappear.

This is the time for fishing at the creek,
for catching crappie with a cane and hook.
The butterflies appear like strings of silk,
when green leaves broaden on the cherry tree.

© Copyright, 2013, Freeda Baker Nichols

These Hills

 

These hills that reach to touch me
and encircle me with mirth
are the hills that I’ve called home,
since the moment of my birth.

I’ve sometimes thought of leaving
but then have changed my mind;
I’d never find an Ozarks
like the one I’d leave behind.

There’s no place like this
wherever I might roam;
no sky as blue as the one above
these hills that are my home.

These wild and wonderful Ozarks
so rich in country lore,
reach lovingly to hold me
forever at their door.

c Copyright, 2012, Freeda Baker Nichols
Published in Ozarks Mountaineer