The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:11pm
Doctors & Nurses are The Stewards
of The Dying
& when The Dying finally
Die
The Dead get off easy
(as My Daughter said)
Barrington Passage, NS 7:20pm
The Light from The West
fell upon the low-treed banks
of Cape Island’s Eastern Shore
& I thought:
“There is My Home —
there is The Island which houses
The Hawk
& I will drive to It
with My Husband of a decade-and-a-half
& I will be Illuminated
by Its Western Light
as We meander tonight
through what We call
The Long Way Home“
The Hawk Deck 11:34am
The Chick-a-dee calls Me
away from My Self
to The Time of My Mother
when My Mother fed Them
& Me
in Valley Cottage
& called to Them
“Chick-a-dee-dee
Chick-a-dee-dee”
Here on The Hawk
Those Little Birds
take Me back
to when I was A Little Girl
raised by a single mother
in My First Real Home
My Real Home Now
is here on The Hawk
Fifty Years Later
where I listen
to The Chick-a-dees
of My Choosing
The Hawk Deck Rail 10:11am
I See The Silver
On The Water Bold
The Air Is Clear
The Fall It Holds
I Stand Beside My Rail Dear
To Right Away The Strife
I Fear
Is This The Moon
Or Is This The Sun?
It Doesn’t Matter
For I Have Won
The Hawk Deck 10:22am
It’s A Fine Time For Me
to write of The Religion For One
out here on My Pristine Deck
in The August Morning Sun —
What Can I Tell Of My View
Of The Self?
The Birds How They Cry
for broken hearts
& bombed civilians —
but wait —
NO ONE SHOULD GET BOMBED:
Ours Is An Earth
of exquisite beauty
& must not be marred
by hatred & distrust —
I Am Here To Settle Out
the chaos
To Re-organize
The Individual Mind
To See Out Its Full Potential
& Have It Believe
in Life
The Hawk Window Seat 6:30pm
I have turned a corner
into a park-lit lane
surrounded by imported trees
& shadows floating on
newly cut grass
lush & green in the dappled sun
I am Home now
in My Mind
where I can hear
a song’s refrain
& be guided
to My Ultimate Destiny
The Hawk Kitchen 2:11pm
My House affords a clear view
even in the fog
I see the layers of scrub spruce
receding
from The Cats on the deck
& bread rising
with The Kettle on
Joanna Gilman Hyde 