Category: Writing Life

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Illness and Health, medical treatment, Prayer, Thanks, Writing Life

Recovery Week 3-1/2

January 31 I dictated to Word: Even dictating A blog post has been difficult. After I dictate I must go back to edit and correct. Since I am confined to this sling my right hand is basically useless. Reaching out to the computer mouse is out of the question.

The healing is going well but I forgot how slow it could be.

9 days with no sun says our weather man. However, Buffalo gets less sun than we do!

24-2-6 I am into the fourth week in sling. This is very difficult. When I take the sling off I find myself using my hand in ways that cause pain. Likely I should just keep it in the sling! There is a cacophony of moans and groans that accompany my life right now. I’m only taking Tylenol, no pain prescription, but yes shoulder pain is my companion.

Physical therapist says I am doing really well. I persevere with the prescribed stretches every few hours.

I am finally sleeping in my own bed instead of the recliner. For the first two weeks I used the electric ice machine pretty much continually. Now I only use ice packs as needed when the pain flares.

Me trussed up with sling and ice machine both strapped on!

I am so grateful for good books that hold my attention and keep me in the chair. I suppose I should have kept a list of what I have been reading. Oh well, let’s see, Louise Penney Kingdom of the blind, Joe Pickett I think the author is Box. Then a story about an animal entitled Now and Then. Read Jack Reacher book that was made into a movie. Partway through the book I realized I’d already read it but I continued because I could not remember the details. My neighbor Ginny brought me Crimson Phoenix which is the first in a series of three. I am now on book 2 which I got free from the library on hoopla.

Perhaps the most helpful has been a book by Elizabeth Elliott about suffering. I bought it several years ago but never started reading it. It really hits home right now.

Jigsaw puzzles have also held my attention though placing pieces with left hand is a challenge. As is eating with left hand!

I also began a new medication for the psoriasis. It is a biologic which they say lowers my immune system so whenever Bob takes me out in public I’m trying to wear a mask so I don’t pick up anything else. Physical therapist agrees this is a good idea. Though I was immunized, if I should contract the flu, vomiting would not be good with this shoulder recovering.

The Lord continues to uphold me and I am greatly encouraged every time I go back to Philippians 4 and think on such things that strengthen me. We finally have a return to sunshine and milder temperatures in the low 50s. Daffodil leaves began emerging in January and continue to get taller! Indoors, the amaryllis has been opening flower after flower and that cheers me immensely!

May you be blessed with an increase awareness of His presence within and about you!

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Family, Humor, Just do it, medical treatment, Music, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Writing Life, Yield

Oi, Yoi, Yoi

Urban dictionary says of this Hebrew phrase: “A reduplicative diminutive of oy expressing frustration or exasperation.”

The best laid plans for a schedule get blown to pieces by doc and dentist this week. Yep, Monday and Tuesday mornings have been my inviolable times to write. Dentist could see me at 11:40. Dermatologist can see me at 11 AM (her only opening all week), so I called dentist to take his 2PM opening, so guess what? This is my few minutes. Yep, I really need a new schedule. Especially if I am to continue being a volunteer to help sort and stock food stuff at Inter Parish Ministry on Tuesdays when Bob goes to work in their parking lot directing traffic. Drawing from my reading this morning …

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name. Amen

A W Tozer The Pursuit of God

“Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.” To be drawn anew into His love by mercy. What an enormous gift! Oh yes, readers, yield to Him and ask for a new work of love within you.

He is never more delighted than when we yield to His work of love within us.

God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.

Tozer Pursuit of God

“The throbbing heart of New Testament religion,” I just love that! The church we currently attend places huge emphasis on how many are baptized each year. Tozer emphasizes “continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed person” as the HEART of the New Testament. Where is that taught? Once baptized what happens to those souls? Is their growth in knowing Him as celebrated as their decision for baptism?

This time of year we are many times seeking the perfect gift for another. Are we seeking the heart of the New Testament for ourselves? Continuous and unembarrassed interchange with the Holy One. Oh yes, Lord help me to make that our gift exchange this year!

What do you think God would want the most?

Nope, not something necessarily in a box. I think what He most desires is our unhindered yieldedness to Him. Our ears open to listen. Our wills yielded to obey. Giving Him our all because He gave all for us. Each one of us. Individually. Unreservedly.

I think God is amused by the following song written by Woody Guthrie and sung by Pete Seeger. If God has a mailbox this is what He wants in it the most!

Of course, you must find a box you fit in, someone to help you with the stamps on top of your head, etc. I hope the song plants the idea firmly in your mind that most of all God desires all of you as His gift.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Nature, Poetry, Thanks, Writing Life

November 22 Verse

We were blessed to see this the day before Thanksgiving. I am still rejoicing!

Doe Among Us© Molly Lin Dutina

We entered the paved trail with a sure sense of adventure
Had never before walked this path
Not five feet into the woods
Not five feet from the pavement
Acutely aware doe watches us
Husband looking at his camera settings
I had to calmly say, “A deer, dear”
Touching his arm to get his full attention.

She started when he noticed her
She stood and slowly began to walk away
It was only then that we saw the fawn
Resting calmly a few feet behind her
How do they signal each other so silently?
Before long a small herd stood
Walked up the hillside
Vanished into the honeysuckle shrubbery
It wasn’t until Bob printed this that I saw the face of the fawn behind her! photo by r m dutina
photo by r m dutina

“And they walked up the hillside” so camouflaged had I not seen them go up I might have missed them totally! Deer are common in our area, but I do not tire of them (unless of course they are eating my garden plants!) I think one reason I love the white tailed deer is that deer are mentioned so often in Scripture.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

Habakkuk 3:19 NIV
Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Writing Life

Well, drats.

It all belongs to You, God. As Eldredge has taught me ‘I give everything and everyone to You. I give everything and everyone to You.’

Since last summer I have been trying to print out a copy of this blog. At first I paid for an upgrade to get the bulk of it. Then I was just printing from the screen. When I returned to organizing the notebooks there were about six months missing. So I went to print those records. Then ran out of blue ink. Thought oh well, I will just print in black and white until an order of ink can arrive. Then the printer was starting to print in orange/pink stripes instead of black and white. Thought it was a fluke. Nope it was going nuts over there on the printer stand. Why not just black and white when I chose that? Plenty of black ink in there in two separate ‘tanks.’

A long way of saying this project has become a PROJECT. It still seems right to have a hard copy just in case the sun sends some rays that kill the internet or meteor showers destroy cloud storage! I have begun printing two sided and not fretting if I miss one or two dates. The print copies do not show links to YouTube, just big blocks where the link would have been. Guess this might be the reason professional writers and executives have secretaries? Or pay WordPress extra for fancier programs?

Not me. Just the 37 year old woman in her home office trying to reflect her life especially with the Lord of lords. I should have thought to being printing this when I first began writing the blog! Oh. That’s right I am 73 now, not 37. Drats. Just that much closer to home with the Holy One.

I give everything and everyone to You, Lord.

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Illness and Health, Just do it, Listen, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Writing Life, Yield

So Very True

Here is a wonderful thought to ponder.

No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future. Any amount of gratitude changes the present.

Ann Voskamp

Many times I begin my prayer thanking the Father for another day of living and loving. Reflecting upon my recent birthday I thank the Holy One for another year of living and loving.

Best birthday card ever!
From my sister
My sister, Paula
Me

“At our age there are not lots of new friendships, but the ones we experience we hold dear.” Our neighbor, Kathy, has only been known to us a couple of years. Through her first year of struggling to get her brain around what it takes to live with a chronic illness and that illness being also a rare one, we became close. It is difficult to communicate with people who have never suffered from chronic illness. As Kathy says, “They just don’t get it.” Her diagnosis, antisynthetase syndrome, is rare and causes much misery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisynthetase_syndrome Fewer than 50,000 people in the US are thought to have this. Together we have re-affirmed Ann Voskamp’s wisdom that ‘any amount of gratitude changes the present.‘ This year when she returned to Florida, as snowbirds have a tendency to do, it was harder than ever to let her go. We have been married the same length of time, we are the same age, we each have a son and a daughter. Both of us have 3 grandchildren! Her wisdom and friendship bless me deeply. We share our faith freely. When I developed scalp psoriasis I told her I was getting tired of being like her! We don’t speak about dandruff, we refer to blizzards of skin cells falling from our heads after we scratch. We both need to vacuum our beds, our chairs and our cars. It is almost impossible to NOT scratch this sort of itching.

As I unwrap this gift of a new year of life I will try to remain present to all that is given. Life is truly a gift.

With another year of aging, I cling more and more to this verse in Corinthians

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV

Less energy, true that. Less flexibility, true that. Undiagnosed hand and foot itching, yep. More renewal, thank the LORD for that! The Scriptures declare He will never leave me or forsake me. And it is true. There are times when I move away from God, but He is ever near and holds me in His nail-scarred hands.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me.“

Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV

I truly live a varied and pleasing life, rich in adventure and blessings. There is no way I can account for it. One friend tells me I see things others do not when I take a walk. I am blessed to be married to the best man in the world. This year I have continued to work on finding some of the best recipes to cook. (I already miss fresh Ohio tomatoes!) My desk remains stacked about 6 inches deep. If I ever get ‘caught up’ I suppose it will be time to die? Let’s not even discuss how deep the sewing table is with projects.

I have out lived both of my parents. Bob calls it the ‘miracle of modern chemistry.” This year I promise to continue to write this blog as long as I am enabled to come up with new thoughts and inspirations.

May you cling to the One who has you engraved on the palms of His hands. May you rest in the knowledge that the same Holy One is able to renew you day by day. Peace and all blessings to each of you, my dear readers.

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Illness and Health, Journal, medical treatment, Music, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Writing Life

Grace in Our Helplessness

Haven Ministries publishes a monthly booklet of devotions entitled “Anchor Devotional.” The month of September, 2023 featured the writings of John Newton, compiled by writer Miller Ferrie, “to celebrate the 250th anniversary of when the hymn “Amazing Grace” was first sung.”

The entry for September 16 reads:

The grace of Jesus Christ humbles us. Hymn-writer John Newton knew this well and wrote the following:

Self-righteousness has had a considerable hand in dictating many of my desires for an increase of comfort and spiritual strength. I have wanted some stock of my own, I have been wearied of being so perpetually beholden to {God}, needing to come to Him always … as a poor miserable sinner, I should have liked to have done something for myself in ordinary circumstances, and to have depended upon Him chiefly on extraordinary occasion.

I have found indeed, that I could do nothing without His assistance, nor anything even with it. I am now learning to glory only in my infirmities, … to be content to be nothing that He may be All in All. But I find this a hard lesson, …Humbled I ought to be, to find I am totally depraved – but not discouraged, since Jesus is appointed to me by God to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and since I find that … He keeps alive the principle of grace which He has implanted in my heart.

John Newton

What a challenge I have had. In so many ways I feel like Newton. August I was exhausted by life and likely too many activities. September I had a decayed tooth cut out by oral surgeon, with anesthesia, antibiotic, gauze, ice packs and pain pills afterwards. My face was bruised and I was in a lot of pain. I kept hearing the Cory Asbury song lyric “You take good care of me.” And it is true.

A few days later I slammed the car door on two fingers of my left hand. So grateful they were not broken. As the saying goes, I “Could not win for losing!” Scalp psoriasis exploded and I began itching, not just on the scalp. Within a few days I was itching all over and hives developed on one side of my neck. Read about something called opioid itch. Wondered if it was the pain pills? Heard the song below. I love Einaudi’s compositions.

Entitled Monday. Sounds to me like the LORD giving living water into my writing.

Out of my mind with itching I began Benadryl on my own along with my usual dose of Allegra. Kept hearing Brandon Lake lyric, “Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest; I’ll praise You anywhere.” Rough going, and truly a sacrifice of praise.(Hebrews 13:15) For several days a line I wrote in April, 2013 had been on my mind, “And so misery invited agony who brought along distraction and insomnia.” With all those medications I did not have insomnia though I did wake myself several times while scratching in my sleep. Eventually insatiable itching centered on palms of hands and soles of feet with NO rash, NO blisters, NO nothing, just usual skin. Wondered if I would actually scratch my skin open? Even at times itching the skin web between pointer and middle finger. What is this??

I saw the internist. He put me on steroid tablets with Allegra and Benadryl to continue. My appointment with Dermatologist October 5 was much awaited. I just wanted some answers to why is this happening? Assuming we can get it under control, how can I avoid this in the future? Itching stopped for two days and then returned.

October 5 I wrote:

Here am I naked before You
Clearly bothered by itching and pain
Ankles, shoulders and head all ache
Steroids have surely about gone
Driven to distraction I try to contain my hands
nerve endings igniting continuously
I bring my broken self to You
Naked before Your eyes You see
within, about, and through me
Lord be my comfort I pray
Show me how to cope with this
Lead me in paths where I can write
bring You glory and honor and praise
Here am I naked before You.

Dermatologist too was stumped, concerned but uncertain what caused all of this. Did full body check up while asking questions and pondering my dilemma. She took a biopsy of my right upper arm which mimicked something on my chest.

She put me on Zyrtec in evening and Allegra in morning. New Clobetasol shampoo. Wondered if there might be liver or kidney problems. Even mentioned possibility of lymphoma. Ordered a slew of tests (at least eleven) from both blood and urine.

Eventually itching has tapered off. Certainly not gone, but live-able. The test results have been rolling in through My Chart. They are all normal. Occasional palm itch. Maybe once a day bout of sole itch.

I cannot say with Newton and Paul ‘I glory in my infirmities’. Guess that sounds like a hypochondriac to my ears. (Guess I need to study the commentators to gain a better understanding of the concept.) This is a very long post, but was uncertain how to shorten it. I have been enabled to write and post the blog. I went on a weekend retreat at the Convent where I have been an associate for many years. Life continues, but my body, which loves to play ‘Stump the Doctor” continues to baffle me and the professionals. John Newton was right, the grace of Christ does humble me. John 5:30a is such a powerful truth. “I can do nothing on my own.” By His grace I live and write.

During the retreat I was blessed with this portion of Celtic Compline

Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm

Still me O Lord, keep me from harm

Let all the tumult within me cease

Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.

The Felgild Compline

To read the entire Compline go to https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/wednesday-the-felgild-compline/

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Writing Life, Yield

Book Quotes

In Mad Honey Jodi Picoult wrote, “We aren’t here on earth in order to bend over backward to resemble everybody else. We’re here to be ourselves, in all our gnarly brilliance.”

Another author wrote, “Stop trying to be someone. You are someone.”

Are you willing to live the challenge to be your own authentic specially created self? There is no one else on earth who can be you. At almost 73 years lived I am here to tell you that you are a special creation, loved and cherished by the Father with special tasks in mind for you and you alone.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

In Sensible Shoes Sharon G. Brown wrote: “She said, ‘Write what you’re feeling. Tell the truth. Write like nobody’s reading.’ And just like that, I was invited to show up authentically to my grief and pain. It was a simple act but nothing short of a revolution for me. It was this revolution that started in this blank notebook 30 years ago that shaped my life’s work. The secret, silent correspondence with myself. Like a gymnast, I started to move beyond the rigidity of denial into what I’ve now come to call emotional agility.”

Have you tried this practice? Years ago when I began journaling I made Bob promise that he would not read the journal. As far as I know he has absolutely kept that promise. Then later I asked him to promise that if I die before him he would not let the children read my journals. I wrote much in there trying to work out how to parent them. It reflects on my ignorance and searching more than on their behavior and how I truly love them, even when they were on my last nerve.

I sometimes think of this blog as journaling on the screen. Some of what I post comes from my recent journals. Would you take the challenge to be authentic in journal writing? There are no rules in how to do it. At times I write paragraphs with complete sentences. Other times simply a list of words. Phrases that pop up. Prayers, things copied from others, crayon drawings, photographs. Magazine clippings. It is your journal. You can make it any way that you want. The main goal is to be authentic. Having a lousy day? Write that. A great day? Fill the page with sunlit words.

Authentic: genuine, no pretense, transparent. Below is my favorite image of transparent with the Lord.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

There is something amazing about putting your thoughts and experiences into words. At times you learn something about yourself that was previously hidden from you. You come across thoughts that were difficult to contact previously. At times, uncovering something you knew earlier in life but then forgot! Sort of like a pen as a steam shovel, excavating a basement, down to a bedrock belief.

The shelf with the open shell and the shelf below it up to the Bible and Harper’s Bible Commentary show my journals minus one or two.

I have had folks tell me they cannot write. I always think to myself, “Well you can think. We all think (unless there is a brain injury of some sort.) Write what you think about.”

“Here to be ourselves…Be the someone we are created to be.” Stop apologizing for who you are. Sharon Brown called journal writing ‘secret, silent correspondence with myself.’ I would expand that thought to include correspondence with the Father. When I write it is often a revelation to me what I am thinking. Many times also, there comes a revelation of what the Father thinks about what I hold as truth. Holding a wrong interpretation, if I am willing to yield, that concept can be corrected.

One of the stories Bob was always glad to read to our children was Mike Mulligan. The story is about Mike and his steam shovel, Mary Anne.

The newer types of shovels took away jobs from the steam shovels.

I think journaling can be a form of self examination. Why not give it a try? You might begin like in a child’s diary just recording events that occur. Given time and prayer and a willingness to go below the surface I believe you can find treasures within your own life experiences.

You will never know unless you give it a try! Use your pen as a steam shovel. You just might come upon treasure you buried a long, long time ago!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Writing Life

Give Cheer and Listen

You may remember what I wrote here https://wordpress.com/post/treasures-in-plain-sight.org/10918 about Jeff Koterba and his great drawing shown above, illustrating “We must listen with our ears and our hearts.”

During retreat at sunset I went to my car to get a printed notebook of Treasures in Plain Sight to share with Sister Maureen. You sort of have to read some of my postings if you want to get to know me. Walking back to my room 7:12 PM on 23-6-5 I heard the Lord say,

"I want you to sit
Enjoy the breeze
LISTEN to your own writing."

There is a huge patio with picnic tables near the parking lot. It is covered with a roof held by ropes and poles. I had earlier seen a sister who seems to be confined to a motorized wheelchair. She is younger than me. I saw her sitting on the patio enjoying the evening breeze. The patio overlooked a part of the grounds where the trees open and a small meadow is seen.

I told her, “Look at you! You take your chair wherever you go! I had to walk out here and there is not even a back on these picnic benches!” She rewarded me with a huge, lovely smile.

Sister went back in the building when an alarm rang on her wrist. I wondered if she had been waiting to see deer? There was a lovely meadow in the distance with an opening in the trees. Sure enough,  at 7:27 two large deer came out from between the trees and began to graze in the meadow. I made note of the time to give to her. (I saw her in the cafeteria at lunch the next day and slipped her the note. She cheerfully thanked me with a BIG smile.)

I sat in the evening breeze and began paging through the notebook with writings I had posted a year ago. It was fun to visit memories and see His hand at work in my life. When I had finished I heard,

“Blog or not
writing IS part of your calling."

You see, during this retreat I was asking what the Lord would have me do in the future. I was exhausted in so many ways. If I was told to stop X-Y-and-Z, believe me, I was willing to obey. I had made a retreat here last autumn. The program was Soul Collage. Participants choose magazine pictures to illustrate their theme or train of thought. I brought my most meaningful collage with me to ponder during the retreat. I prayed repeatedly asking the Lord to direct my ways. The focus of this collage is writing.

When I write I bow my heart to the Lord similar to the nun in the white habit, praying that I can find the words to explain my experiences and bring God glory. One thing that has always fascinated me is the sound the waves make as they recede from the beach back onto the ocean floor. “Susurrus”is the word that describes a murmuring stream. Wonder what describes that sizzling water going through sand sound? Those are the things that keep me writing! The bookshelf tells the story of me researching my writing. The keyboard, my obvious method. The clock reminds me that I am to walk Lucky at about eleven every morning. I have a time limit to my writing session! And the fossilized nautilus. That became a centerpiece for my retreat. More later on that.

Returning to the building I found a book I had never seen before. The author is Edward Hays. It is entitled “The Ladder.” What an eye opener! and soul unfolder! I spent much of the evening reading the first 20 or so pages.

The following song describes what was going on for me. Lyrics show on the video.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Listen, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Writing Life

May First Verse

May First ©Molly Lin Dutina

It was a quiet, cloudy morning
Stillness embracing early morn
Then I heard a creaking of the siding
A tossing of the saplings
Turned to bending of the decades old trees
As a ‘mighty rushing wind’ passed through
And almost as quickly the trees returned to stillness

A few moments later another gust came 
It seemed determined to be a steady blowing
Rain came flying past my window 
The wind became a gentle breeze
The music of raindrops overtook the wind
And May 1st was declared by the heavens

The wind, the rain, it all stopped as suddenly as it began
Bird song is heard again
Strange yellow/gray sky as sun rises higher
Wrestling with the spring weather front
Newly emerged maple leaves
Soft in coloring cling to their branch in the breeze
Help me cling to You, Jesus my source of life
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature, Poetry, Writing Life

King of the Canopy ©1988, 2014 Molly Lin Dutina

We have more mighty wind storms this year than Bob and I can ever remember. Starting to think this too is a result of climate change? Seeing so many fallen trees the last couple months reminded me of this poem. Enjoy!

High in the canopy of the forest
	In one of the tallest trees
Four buds set themselves
On the end of a twig.

Sealed tight with scales
	They set themselves firmly
	Determined to survive the winter’s
	Thaw and freeze, thaw and freeze.

Then the unthinkable happened
The unimaginable,
 not even remotely pondered, occurred.

In that last big wind storm
	When we wondered what 
	Might be happening in the woods ….
This mighty home of the buds fell.
King of the canopy came tumbling down with a groan
And crash
Many splintering sounds as
The hollow trunk gave way to wind and decay.

The young saplings braced themselves
As branches flew past,
	Rubbing trunks
	Leaving lost members lodged in other’s forks.
The creak and the crash unsettled
The whole forest as small critters
Ran out of the tumbling parts’ way
Wondering why the canopy 
Would want to visit the floor?

With a sigh the mighty giant
Folded into the contours of the forest floor
And lay still in the windy gusts
The four buds, sealed tight, 
waiting for the spring sun to call them forth,
cling to the twig at my eye level now.

There’s a strange new light now
As we walk this bend in the forest.
Sunbeams pour in on a cloudless day asking
“Who will next attempt the role of
King of the Canopy? Come forth! Come forth!”
How many other buds of last year’s canopy 
have become a white tail’s fodder?