Autumnal Changes

Golden shimmering dragonfly wings flicker in the late afternoon sunlight as he rests momentarily on a glowing ruby-coloured blueberry leaf.

Nearby, dancing a figure eight are twinned white butterflies rotating in mid-air. A magenta petaled zinnia calls me closer with its contrasting sunflower-yellow pollened centre.

A bumble bee busies herself just above the zinnia, where a lilac painted verbena keeps her captivated as she zips from one tiny protruding T-shaped purple flower segment to the next. All the while, my blue banana-shaped hammock sways gently to and fro, matching the glorious cyan September sky.

An orange-red peacock butterfly swoops down beside me to say hello. The spikey coned heads of echinacea’s stand tall and balding, while its darkening crumpling leaves droop slowly downwards, making them look like a swarm of Halloween-styled jellyfish, backlit by the low Autumnal sun.

The perfection and beauty is almost painful as I’m reminded of the transience of this cherished moment. Can’t these numbered early Autumn days, still glowing with late Summer sun, stay a little longer? I’m missing you already even though you stand before me. And yet your transient quality is the reason I now take notice. Ironic isn’t it?

Embrace change they say: I want to.
Be in the moment they say: I try.
Why does it hurt so much? Your resisting.
Let go, let go, let go…I die, just a little.

A Tree is But a Tree

During a hot mountain hike, as we pass under the cool shade of a cheery horse chestnut:

Respectful of your greatness, like you might a Queen of the past. Thank you dear and majestic great one for all that you give. We are eternally grateful. Bowing under the pulsating epiphany of life. How could we ever pass you by in a fumbling blinded stance? We are but of great ego and with little true understanding of the world within or without.

Oh, strong and not so silent entity, how well you communicate with fellow tribe. Through unimaginable sophistication, you send your message of warning through the tiny particles in the air as well as feed a whole community through your roots. In contrast, we toot our gaudy horn and supposedly know better, while using and abusing your kind to serve our every whim.

Forgive us for our ignorance. A tree is but a tree, only when our eyes and heart are closed to your wonderous ways. In reverence and awe, I bow before thee.

A tree is but a tree…

 

August 2020

Jaun, Switzerland

Olivia O’Keeffe

 

Hidden

Gushing, flowing, twisting,

Your power can split rock,

Your beauty hypnotic,

Your sound soothing.

 

Refreshing, cooling, cleansing,

Thirst quencher, purifier, giver of life,

Running like the veins of the land,

Your stormy strength undeniable, sometimes treacherous.

 

As you dance and spill over and around all rocks before your,

Ever-flowing until you’re not.

Humbled by your power and godly importance,

If I listen hard enough do I hear your sounds

Make words or even just meaning?

 

Are your messages encrypted in a crashing wave?

In the deep tones of a gushing waterfall?

Or a gurgling stream or a silent lake?

Or in the pitter-patter of rain?

 

I believe you have the answers to my quest,

But unless I take the time to listen,

The answers will continue to remain

Hidden within your melodic song.

 

August 2020

Jaun, Switzerland

 

Olivia O’Keeffe

 

 

Song For The Silent Woman

 

To all the silent women in the world;

Rise up and speak your truth,

Take back the power that was your own,

Rise up and speak your truth.

 

Believe not the lies that have kept you small,

Nor the fists that have moulded you so,

Break free the ties that silenced your cries,

Rise up and speak your truth.

 

Find strength within and raise your chin,

Make defiance your only sin,

Awake from your silence and brave the tide,

Your time is now!

Rise up and speak your truth.

 

April 2020

by Olivia O’Keeffe