I am a Landscape

I am a landscape of shadows 

With arduous trails to climb,  

Dark valleys in the background 

Shape-shifting clouds 

Slanting downwards, 

Pelting  

The mutable ground - 

Hoofmarks washed away 

Of a trembling fawn  

Near a field by the river 

Where butterflies and bees 

Bask beneath  

The fluttering of song 

See the winding road, 

The hidden harbour, 

The paint on the palette, 

A confusion of colour: 

California poppy orange, 

Sunlit fern green, 

Swaths of sunset pink hues 

Look into the scene 

There, beside the willow tree 

See the semblance of me

Will You Push Me?

Will you push me on the swing 

So I might think that I have wings 

Will you push me from behind 

So I could feel that I can fly 

Will you push me bit by bit  

So I'm not at all afraid of it 

Will you push me everyday 

Help me kick the clouds away 

Will you push me as I grow older 

Softly grab me by the shoulder 

Will you push me, push me back 

So I always know you’ve got my back 

Will you push me, make me try 

So that I stretch to touch the sky 

Will you push me, push me far 

So I can reach my dreams, the stars      

The Plight of the Peony

Photo from The Peony Parade

My days of being caressed  

And titillated  

By those rotund bumblers’ 

Dangling feet 

Have been cut short 

I am no longer bathed  

In the luxurious warmth 

From the globe of illumination  

Or sprinkled and splashed  

With succulent life  

Instead, my severed stem 

Was doused in tepid tap water 

While my head careened  

Against cold, imprisoning glass 

To droop, dispirited, 

Thirsty for hope 

I know full well 

My buxom fragrance  

Permeates  

This spiritless box 

Yet I find nostrils 

Inserting themselves 

Between my silk petals  

As if they could inhale  

Angelic bliss 

Before I am to be  

Casually discarded, 

Heaped with tomorrow's  

Repugnant coffee grounds 

Alas,  

‘Tis the cruelest of jokes