Sunday, December 05, 2010


THIS ONE’S FOR YOU.

On an evening in late November, after a dry spell in the weather I went out to dampen the mushrooms and water the garden. It was one of those evenings poets try to capture in disjointed sensory words (Prussian blue air of chill stillness, like vodka 30 minutes out of the freezer), the ground ankle-deep in red-to-gold cherry and chestnut leaves as I walked around with the garden hose, dampening the mushrooms that were growing larger by the day.

As the Prussian blue darkened I looked up and there not 10 yards away, gazing at me and chewing on dinner, was the Baron himself, intrigued by that non-deer creature over there who was streaming from the ends of his upper limbs such interesting shapes that sounded like rain and waved around in a way he'd never seen before... He was enthralled, didn't show any sign of panic when I moved along, he just looked on intently, now and then bending down to take another nibble (he's a big fan of my compost pile with its apple cores, cucumber vines and potato peels), lifting up his big crown of antlers to look whenever I moved, watching the water stream from my hands. 

He browsed on across the ground as I continued watering, first the mushrooms, then the spinach, beans, shungiku and other  greens, shallots, chard, onions, closed the garden fence, then rustled back through the glow of leaves to put away the hose-- and there just above the Lake was a full moon rising from the far shore, a ball of sunset-red at first that slowly lightened as it rose, casting a glittering pink-gold trail across the calm waters (even though it was a blue moon all along).

One can get along very well on far less natural beauty than this... I was blessed by this largesse, let the moment keep on filling me with the rainbow on the ground, the trusting Baron, the red moon rising, the clear, brightening night, to share later with you.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. Thank you very much.
--Diana

Robert Brady said...

You are most welcome, Diana.

Entre Nous said...

I needed this, I miss the wildlife I share the earth with. As it is, I feed the city birds, squirrels and stray cats now, and dream of your world.

Robert Brady said...

Welcome, Joni - and glad to share.

Unknown said...

I had a similar experience shortly before Christmas when strolling through our little town at dark. It was snowing when I saw the full orange moon rise between the huge catholic dome here and the secular Christmasmarket with people sipping their hot wine, eating a Bratwurst there. The decisive moment was so unreal - real almost kitschig. And in a moment's time the moon had disappeared behind our 15th century Fachwerk buildings leaving for the decline of that month and of this year....

Wishing you a good 2011 and heisei 22 !
Greetings from Germany
Gina