Poetry Of Spirit And Light: April 2012

Friday, April 27, 2012

Walk On The Wild Side

Give ear, larks on stairways to Heaven do sing.
My soul at one with fleet swallows takes wing.
When I walk on the wild side a world apart,
Nature quells any disquiet adrift in my heart.

Wilderness craves balance without ado or strife.
Thus I tread lightly, a shadow on the circle of life.
Hawks ride blue thermals, my awe turns to elation,
But, prairie dogs scamper with barks of trepidation.

Disciples of starlight smile and proclaim delight,
While winds whisper of rains before the fortnight.
Serenity floods my heart and confers peace of mind.
With every walk on the wild side my essence I find.

Checkered White On Fire Wheel

Nightshade (solanum elaeagnifolium)

Syrphid Fly On Chocolate Flower (berlandiera lyrata)

Bristlelobe Cryptantha (cryptantha angustifolia)

Spring Blast Off (Plains Yucca)

A Walk On The Wild Side (cycloneda munda, aka Lady Beetle)

Riddell Ragwort (senecio riddellii)

Popcorn Flower (cryptantha angustifolia)

Awakening (yucca campestris)

Disciple Of Starlight (sphaeralcea coccinea, aka Scarlet Globemallow)

Primrose, Yucca, And Broomweed

Path To Survival (Plains Prickly Pear)

Solanum Elaeagnifolium (Silverleaf Nightshade)

Comanche Lance (yucca campestris)

Serrate-Leaf Evening Primrose (calylophus serratulus)

Go With The Flow (Plains Yucca)

Five-Mile Marker (Cooper)

Plains Yellow Primrose (calylophus serratulus)

The Comeback (Prickly Pear Cactus)

Frazzled (Plains Yucca)

Revival (yucca campestris)

Trompillo

Sun Drops (calylophus serratulus)

Six Jesters (cylindropuntia imbricata)

Spaceship Earth (Plains Yucca)

Generation P (opuntia macrorhiza)

Yucca Raceme Flower Buds

Cut-Leaf Daisy Surprise (engelmannia peristenia)

Premium Shady Rest (Cooper)

Come Back Kid (Plains Yucca)

Stairway To Heaven (Engelmann's Daisy)

Daggers (yucca campestris)

High Noon Reflections (Scarlet Globemallow)

Emerald Rain Drops (Broom Snakeweed)

Delicate Beginnings (Plains Prickly Pear Cactus)

First Santa Fe Aster (machaeranthera tanacetifolia)

Scarlet Gaura Raceme (gaura coccinea)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Reptile Menagerie

Warm daytime temperatures and frost free nights stir dormant prairie reptiles out of Winter burrows. These throwbacks to the age of dinosaurs are masters of camouflage. Encounters tend to be sudden and dramatic. Emotions run the gamut from anxiety with snakes to comedic playtime with turtles and horned lizards. My canine pal Cooper enjoys re-enactments of the storied Tortoise and the Hare race and gratifies prey drive with useless pursuits of fleet-footed, toad-bodied lizards. I marvel at their beauty and tenacity to thrive in the grueling Llano Estacado ecosystem.