Everchanging beauty
Colder fall weather
Seeps through my bones
Dried brown and colored leaves
Laying upon the ground
Remind me of the harvest season
A cornucopia of plenty
The leaves are gathered up
For decorations and crafts
Giving my home an Autumnal touch
Muddy puddles and a foggy dampness
A residual leftover after a long hard rain
Making the grass and flowers glisteningly wet
To me, the air smells fresh and clean
I delight in nature’s beauty
And its forever changing scene
By Starema
Take a pebble
Take
a pebble
Watch
it splash
Watch
it sink
And
watch the ripples
Go
out in circles
Further
and further
A
constant flow
Yet
everchanging
Take
a pebble
And
see the future
Each
ripple
A
reminder
That
life is
Everchanging
Take
a pebble
Hold
it in your hand
So
little so insignificant
So
many granules
Pressed
together
Yet
we are significant
We
have a purpose
Each
one we touch
Changed
forever
Just
one little pebble
A
ripple has begun
So
many touched
By
one single deed
Word
or actual touch
All
is forever changed
We
are forever changed
Never
to be the same again
By
Starema
©
By Linda Carol Schackner
© 3-10-03
Sun soaking flowers
Each petal reaching upwards
April showers mist
Glistening dewdrops
Upon newly blooming buds
The silent springtime
Icy breezy winds
Winter Goddess beckons me
Snowflakes drifting down
Leaves colorful dreams
Golden orange, crimson, green
Speaks of cooler days
Rays of golden sun
Streaming down melting
pavement
Sweaty kids swimming
6-1-03
HAIKU POEMS
By Starema
© 3-24-03
Blue skies,
fluffy puffs
Looking up,
dreaming, staring
Floating clouds
pass by
A patch of brown
dirt
Yellow dandelions
sprout
Green green grass
growing
Green trees
leaves falling
Flittering to the
wet ground
Leaves many
colors
Barren trees life
comes
Leaves spreading,
blooming, swaying
A breeze whistles
through
Drivers speeding
through
Freeway lines
into eight lanes
Island separates
A spring meadow
blooms
Wildflowers
blossom new
People look
stroll by
Sunrise breaks
the night
Slowly black
turns to blue
Yellow orange
bright
Mini-carnations
Placed in
streaming jet black hair
Pink variegated
Touching day to
night
The horizon holds
the line
Pale colors
emerge
Fluffy clouds
pass by
Man-made lake
glistening bright
Walking thru the
park
Man-made lake
glistens
Sunlight bouncing
merrily
Rainbow trout
swims by
Flowers blooming
bright
Sights of beauty
all around
Sweet scents
deliver
© 4-4-03
Mountaintops
cover
Fluffy white snow
glistening
In winter
sunlight
Bees landing upon
Blooming,
budding, opening
Sweet scented
flowers
Ants swarming
upon
Their anthill
community
Collecting
foodstuffs
Blossoming cacti
Tumbleweeds
rolling along
Sweet desert
beauty
A fresh water
lake
Ripples swirling
patterns made
Fish swimming
along
A pretty meadow
Dewdrops on
wildflowers
Warm springtime
breezes
April winds
blowing
Willows swaying
bending down
Tree leaves
returning
Crocuses, roses
Carnations,
daffodils, bloom
All varieties
Volcano spewing
Lava everywhere
flows
Ash cloud
covering
Earthquake
quivering
Cracks in ground,
steam escaping
Buildings
shuttering
Tidal wave
peaking
Waves form,
cresting very high
People scream
from fear
A boat capsizing
Called to
eternity
Freezing water
grave
Grass, flowers,
marker
Grave site
cemetery plot
Loved ones
epitaph
Cremation ashes
An urn of marble
beauty
Body is no more
Apple orchards
sweet
Rows upon rows of
apples
Nectar of the
gods
Christmas trees
cut down
Decorated holiday
Beauty in its
prime
Harvest holiday
Citrons willows,
myrtle, palm
Humanities sign
Passover story
Symbolic
remembrances
Wine droplets ten
plagues
Historic harvest
Wheat barley
celebration
Jewish holiday
Rocks water
crashing
Smooth eroding
slick
Jutting rock
jetty
Humid rainforest
Exotic foliage
grown
Beauty
untarnished
6-4-03
Blue skies,
fluffy clouds
Pictures waiting
to be seen
Lying upon grass
Looking up
dreaming, staring
Each cloud
floating swirling west
By Linda Carol Schackner
© 10-27-02
Life is like the four seasons.
Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter—
From conception to death,
Our life begins and ends.
Spring is the season of beginnings
All fresh and alive.
Trees have grown new leaves.
Flowers begin to bud.
Fruit is fresh and tasty.
It is a time of renewal,
A time to grow and prosper.
It is a time for birth.
We grow and learn and double our
Weight the first year of our life.
Everything is new, our eyes are
Wide open in wonder and amazement.
To us each new day is an adventure,
New things to explore,
New concepts to learn: lifting ones
Head up, turning over, crawling, walking,
Talking are all so exciting for all.
Summer is the time of childhood.
Still innocent and naïve to ways of the world,
Each child worships his parent like gods,
Always asking questions, always learning.
Inquiring minds hunger for all they can
Experience. It is a time of stretching,
Of growth, of learning who you are
And who you wish to be but many times
These are dreams ever-changing,
Ever-evolving like their physical beings.
It is a time for imaginary friends and a
Time to learn the basics of life.
It is a time of beliefs, hope and joy.
Everything is colorful and vibrant
To a child’s eye not yet dulled by the
Trials, tribulations, peaks and valleys
That is called life.
Summer slips into Fall
The end of Summer and
The beginning of Fall
Marks the hairy time known
As adolescence, a time of
Turmoil for the child nearing
Adulthood and for the parents.
Freedom is the name of the game.
The youth wants more freedom and
Responsibility and the parents fears
To let go. Their baby is growing up.
The nest will soon be empty. Their
Baby is growing up. Just keep them
A little longer. The tug-0-war is normal
But the little bird needs to learn to fly.
The umbilical cord long gone is still
Imagined by the parents. The youth
Steals the scissors and starts slowly
Cutting the cord. With each tear another
Cry. Don’t grow so fast. Don’t be so
Ready to shed your childhood. You can
Never return. The youth spreads his wings
Always testing, always pushing the envelope.
Driving, drinking, and experimenting.
He wants space, he wants to find out who he is,
What he is good at, what he wants to be.
He dreams of a future that is bright and easy.
We know that the world is not so easy.
But we finally let the bird fly.
Fall descends and we are into adulthood.
Scary and exciting, many doors open.
More driving, drinking, and experimenting.
Drawn to everything not previously allowed,
We find that now even more than before
Our choices bring us consequences. Some
Are fun, some we are unexpected, others planned.
Decisions and opinions have more weight.
We have shed our childhood for the stressors
And joys of family, new friends, a life of our own.
We realize we are our own person and
Not a carbon copy of our parents. Now our job is
To know ourselves, be true to ourselves, and learn to
Love another as we are learning to love ourselves.
This season is our longest and the trick is not to
Lose the wonder and amazement of our world
That we once felt so long ago. Not to become
Complacent and dull but to see the beauty of life.
This is our mission but few reach the peak.
Winter comes suddenly and we aren’t ready.
Never ready to accept old age and its aftermath.
We try so many ways to stretch our youth.
We are not satisfied with our looks, and try to
Remove the reminders of our age. We become
Fearful of growing old and then of dying.
We cling to everything, hoping that way we
Can keep our fears and our age at bay.
It is a time where our concept of ourselves
Must change for we are changing, and we
Are no longer able to do what we once could.
The fears grow from molehills to mountains
For many, for to them youth and beauty was
All they saw of themselves. But this is a
Time of quiet contemplation. A time to be
Proud of your accomplishments and of your
Family. It is a time to be happy. You have
Done well and you have touched others.
Now it is time to rest and dream as when
You were young, only these dreams are
Different. It is a time of readying oneself
For things to come and for a time of reuniting.
It is also a time of separation, like with our
Adolescence. This timeyou are separating
yourselves from the world, from our loved
Ones to join other loved ones. It is a time
To let our spirit soar up to the heavens,
Becoming a light and a beacon in the memory
Of others. Death, it is time for immortality.
Death, it is a time of rejoining and moving on.
Your life has changed; the body is in the ground,
But the spirit is ever-present, always watching
Over those we have loved and those we hold dear.
We are a light that has burned bright.
© 10-2-03
Life is a blossom.
First, a bud with color,
Trying so hard to blossom and open,
Taking sustenance from its stem.
And the time to mature among the garden.
As it grows, it begins to open.
It’s mouth opening to catch the dew
And the rainfall, each drop hungrily
Devoured and smiling from the touch
Of the sun, its rays giving its flower life.
As the day grows hot, a bee lights
Upon its center, taking its seeds
To another, and pollinating the one it’s on.
Oh the love of the bee for its task
Knowing that a part of this flower
Will be immortalized, become as honey,
Or will pollinate another flower.
As the day darkens, this precious
Blossom closes, wilts, and its petals
Fall frailly to the wet ground.
The seeds of the wilting, dying flower
Are carried by the sweet warm winds
To pollinate the gardens and the fields,
Bringing forth life again, from death.
Our life is like that budding flower.
The beginning of our life,
We are the bud learning, growing,
Trying to open, becoming aware,
Looking, assessing, taking in
What little sustenance we can
From our Mother’s overfilled breasts.
Our eyes are ever wide in amazement.
Then we open up, we are touched
By others, guided by others.
We let the Sunshine in. We take
In the water of our sustenance.
We mature; we are kids at play,
Then young adults, challenging
The old school, spreading their wings,
Opening up to the world and its offerings,
Thinking their fragile lives, indestructible.
We take for granted life in all its beauty.
We steal the honey from the bee
Because we feel it is our right.
We take our chances, trying to bend
Further to the sun, and suddenly,
We find our youth gone, our need for
Adventure diminished, and we just
Start to survive. Trying to keep the past.
Trying to hold onto our memories of youth.
Our petals slowly splitting, falling away and
We try hard to snatch them back, but can’t.
We have become fragile again, our bodies
Wilting, waiting for the days we too will
Join the flowers in the damp soil.
Our life continues. Our spirit lives on.
We have been promised eternal life
And our children immortalize us.