An unknown raven perches on my sill
Or perhaps, in truth, it belongs to her?
Though unknown, I find myself watching still
as if by some trick, some sprite's sweet murmur
and I wonder if she has come for me.
Each feather shines with a disguised light,
her eyes untamed, deep as a winter's sea.
I move near, yet still she refrains from flight.
I retreat to my chair, for now deterred
by nothing more than shy, curious blush.
With light heart, I watch this wondrous bird--
the room, for a heartbeat, falls to a hush.
One thing I know, with no need for a seer;
I am not the reason that's brought her here.
I met a traveler from a nearby land
who shared this story: “A hoary ruin
of pitted concrete and chewed-up brick stands
amid the ancient groves, an intrusion
of steel beams cut short like broken hands
and rusted by the turning wheel of years.
Round its base, framed by curtains of moss
and fallen leaves whose scents rise like vapors
is a signboard, half decayed and faded:
“Bangor Nature Preserve... Please Leave No Trace...”
Nothing else disturbs the rest of shaded
brook and breeze. No human touch, ill or wise,
trammels the scene.” Am I yet as jaded
as the people who took their own advice?
Scarlet caps the green
of last summer's bounty like
foam upon a wave.
In warmer lands, South Wind stirs,
rising to his ancient task.
South Wind runs his hands
through golden frosts and fields,
leaving branches bare.
After each October gale,
Hoary winter gains more ground.
Ink-blot crows rest in
cages of branches and sky
then take wing once more.
North Wind begins to sing
quiet, cloud-gray lullabies.
April
pulls its fog-shroud
over the coast, battered
by surf, the seagulls' songs haunting
the tides.
Sea fog
lifts and lightens
over cliffs the color
of despair. Waves reach up to touch
sunlight.
South winds
banish the gray –
the barren, muddy earth
shows the first emerald sparks of life
returned.
Flowers
bloom from swollen
buds, the ocean cliffs turned
into a realm of light and joy;
sea rose.
Robins
return to nest,
gracing the cerulean
sky with the ancient verse of spring
once more.
April
lifts and lightens
the barren, muddy earth
into a realm of light and joy
once more.
A Talent for Misery Chapter 1 by Captain-Random, literature
Literature
A Talent for Misery Chapter 1
The ornate brass key looked much newer than Gabriel knew it to be. Despite being at least three generations old, having been passed from his grandfather to his father and now, at last, to him, the small key shone with a ruddy light under the weak early winter sunlight streaming into the courtyard. The simple fact he had been given it at all was in some ways a miracle. As the second son to the baron, the honor should have gone to his older brother. Of course, life had a way of writing its own script and that often didn't follow the standard procedures of humanity's devising.
Gabriel slid the key into his coat pocket and turned his attention
“Howdy, stranger.”
The young man strolling down the wide dirt path was every bit the gentleman; tweed jacket, deep green waistcoat, straw boater perched fashionably atop a head of lustrous chestnut curls. The old farmer's face – as furrowed by time as his fields were by the plow resting at the grassy verge – creased into its well-accustomed frown. The last thing he needed that day was some uppity dandy saying howdy like he was king of the county.
The young man stopped his stroll and tipped his hat toward the farmer. “Beautiful day, wouldn't you say? The breeze is as perfumed as Spring's soft whispers, and ye