Chasing Autumn

Wind rustles through the trees,

as leaves fall

like snowflakes to the ground,

blanketed with colors of autumn harvest.

Two Capiz shell wind chimes tinkle

creating delicate murmurs…

almost whispering,

“We welcome you, Autumn.”

The sky melts away gray abstract clouds,

so heavy,

you can visualize the earth

spinning around the sun.

Wind tickles my forearms, knees,

and shoulders.

Blustery weather impending.

Cleomes and morning glories

shrink,

laden with dried seed pods,

ready for rebirth.

The birdhouse is abandoned…

baby wrens birthed and fed by mama,

have flown the nest.

In my life, two dog children

have passed on…

The wide-eyed striped gray and tan cats,

rest on the knobby rug

peering through windows,

breezes ruffling silky fur.

Summer has come and gone.

Leaves turn golden amber,

crimson, burnt sienna.

Soon, winter will be chasing autumn.

Today I See With My Ears

I wrote a poem about a week after my eye surgery to repair a macular hole in my left eye at the beginning of October. This surgery comes with very strict recovery instructions. Although, I don’t want to get into that at this time, because it is too painful to write about, I did pen a poem about the process. Hope you enjoy it. Thoughts….

“Today I See with my Ears”

By Sheree K. Nielsen

A wind chime of metal

behind my left shoulder

whistles down the wind.

Two songbirds

meep and chirp a morning song

keeping time

with the distant

highway noises.

A single crisp sienna pin oak leaf

lays beneath my feet

casting shadows on the

porch pavement during golden

hour, moving ever so slightly

The wind chime tings, tings.

Pauses.

I hear cardinals and chickadee banter.

My neighbor’s rubber tires creep up the

aggregate driveway.

The comforting rays of the sun

nestle the nape

of my neck

like sunbathing at my favorite

beach on the Carolina coast.

I only see what’s at ground level,

daring not to cast eyes up….

concerned about the eye’s healing

process

that has consumed my life for the last

eight days…

A gust of ethereal air pushes the crisp pin oak leaf

out of my line of vision and into the shade.

The bright ray of the sun caresses my cheek bones

on the left side…near the eye

that needs healing.

A crow squawks to another in search of sustenance.

The wind chime tings as a strand of strawberry blonde hair brushes

my skin.

Today I see with my ears.