.
.
fireflies and faeries
.
mesmerizing delight
.
dark night’s magic
*
*
*
out to camp
.
not a street light in sight
.
heavens stars dance in reach
.
.
I have used this photo before. It is one of my favorites for fireflies. I hope you enjoy it also.
Photo © Jennifer Hennessy of Sunshine, Maine.
Photo taken near her home on the island named Sunshine.
June 30, 2010, Jennifer, know as Jeff said: “A perfect moment. A photo I took a couple of years ago. Fireflies and a rainbow at sunset, experienced while I was walking /w my dogs.”
.
.
.
Snap, crackle, pop !
Lightening…
then count
count the seconds
till the thunder…
each second a mile
it is said.
Then comes the day
you hear the thunder,
see lightening arrive
at the same time.
You duck,
as if THAT would do
any good,
and look to see if
the smoke you smell
is your hair
or your house.
.
I love a good storm,
hoping the thunder
stays in the distance,
and the lightening
is just a light show
over the mountains.
Time and perception
changes everything.
.
.
This time, FBF is about loss.
Any loss you can think of is fair game,
but I do ask you to be serious.
I’m looking for the kind of loss
that breaks your heart,
so no jokey light-hearted poems
about lost keys, please.
Please write a NEW poem
written specifically for this challenge.
Any form is fine except haiku,
and free verse is cool, too.
.
.
.
96 HOURS
.
I try to imagine
almost 16 years
to the day,*
what it would be like
to lay for 96 hours
with no one knowing
you are hurt,
no one checking
to see how you are.
.
The system of checking
on her had broken
down. My mother
had fallen down a set
of stairs in her split level
house where she lived
alone.
When someone realized
that my mother
hadn’t been heard from
for a few days…
she was found.
.
The odds she would
survive were slim,
but she did.
I can’t remember
when I mentioned,
after thinking how
terrible it must
have been to lay there,
and think…
about ???
.
I can’t remember
when I told her that
I often thought how
terrible
it must have been
to lay there not knowing
what the outcome
would be.
.
My mother told me
that she did not have
a belief in an afterlife…
she did not believe
in heaven or hell.
Just a darkness.
She had discussed it
with a friend who had
had a stroke.
They decided that
death was just darkness.
Nothing afterwards.
She ended the conversation
decisively.
.
We never discussed
that her fall, religion
or death again…
Then in October 2005
her favorite brother, Bill,
died suddenly.
For her,
an unbearable loss.
.
Three days later,
my mother died,
sitting in her chair,
waiting for my brother
to visit for the day.
She’d had a shower,
her hair done,
dressed to her liking.
Things important to her, **
She died prepared to go.
.
It is thought that
she died from grief.
The loss of her brother
was too much
for her to bear.
.
Her brother had died.
She’d been angry
when told he died.
He was younger,
she expected him
to out live her.
.
I wonder.
In those 96 hours
in 1997
she decided
death was darkness.
No afterlife.
.
I don’t know the hour
her brother died.
.
I know that she died
less than 96 hours
after Bill died.
Did she see
light in place of
darkness ?
.
It makes me wonder
if in less than 96 hours
did she change
her mind about
death being darkness
when she decided
to join him.
.
………………………………………………………
* My mother fell in June 9, 1997.
Today as I write, it is 29 June 2013
** My mother would not go anywhere spur of the moment.
She needed to have a shower, wash, set and dry her hair,
and find an appropriate outfit.
Not for a ride in the car, to the store, anywhere.
My father would get exasperated and say,
“Mary Louise, you are going to need advance notice before
you die so you can have your shower, hair fixed, and dressed
before you die” (paraphrased)
.
.
imaginary garden with real toads
.
Photo © Jennifer Hennessy of Sunshine, Maine. Photo taken near her home on the island named Sunshine.
June 30, 2010, Jennifer, known as “Jeff”, (spelled Jfef) said: “A perfect moment. A photo I took a couple of years ago. Fireflies and a rainbow at sunset, experienced while I was walking /w my dogs.”
.
Carpe Diem had a prompt of “Hotaru (Firefly)“. I immediately remembered this photo, which I also have done a painting of.fireflies and a double rainbow that Jfef had taken. Due to computer problems, I missed the posted deadline for Carpe Diem and posted only in my blog. . I offer it here to share with you.
.
mystical fireflies
.
childhood playful memory
.
waiting for sunset
.
.
waiting for sunset
.
favorite glass firefly homes
.
lids punched with holes
.
.
lids punched with holes
.
excitement in night air
.
mystical fireflies
.
.
***********
.
.
walking the dogs
.
fireflies light the way
.
sunset rainbows.
.
.
walking the dogs
.
faeries flit about as fireflies
.
fireflies and rainbows
.
.
fireflies and rainbows
.
dancing with faeries by shore
.
walking the dogs
.
.
.
.
Little Deer Isle, Maine across from Pumpkin Island. © 2013 Sigrid Saradunn
.‘
.
ocean’s highest tide
.
behold nature’s crescendo
.
high tide super moon
.
.
.
.
.
.
warm summer day
.
plein aire painters have lunch
.
Pumpkin Island Light
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Credits: Shoobu (Japanese Iris)
.
.
.majestic beauty
.
waving come hither pond side
.
pause to refresh soul
.
.
.
.
.
little girl with curl
.
really good or horrid
.
love her forever
.
===========
.
indecisive ~ flip coin
.
unhappy with heads or tails
.
you know with your heart
.
===========
.
The second haiku is based on
advice my father gave me…
if you are torn between choices
just make one…if you are unhappy
with that choice, you know the choice
you want to make.
.
This post was inspired by a Carpe Diem post on Blue Flags that
was posted while my computer was in the computer hospital.
I love blue flags. They are the February flower for those born in
that month.
.
Dainty blue flags in the field above the waterfront.
.
.
summer’s delight
.
purple hidden in field of phlox
.
blue flag iris….water front field
.
.
.
.
These gorgeous blue flags are just off Oak Street on the way Bar Harbor or Bangor. Stunning huge display of blooms.
.
.
blue flag iris
.
beaming in sunlight
.
greet all travelers
.
.
Tucked to the side of a lily pond, a surprise of blue flags.
.
.
greet all travelers
.
on foot, bike or motoring
.
summer’s delight
.
.
.
You are among toads
.
.
Photo © Jennifer Hennessy of Sunshine, Maine. Photo taken near her home on the island of Sunshine.
June 30, 2010, Jennifer, known as “Jeff”, said: :A perfect moment. A photo I took a couple of years ago. Fireflies and a rainbow at sunset, experienced while I was walking /w my dogs.”
.
Carpe Diem had a prompt of “Hotaru (Firefly)“. Due to computer problems, I missed the posted deadline for Carpe Diem. I immediately remembered this photo, which I also have done a painting of.
.
.
mystical fireflies
.
childhood playful memory
.
waiting for sunset
.
.
waiting for sunset
.
favorite glass firefly homes
.
lids punched with holes
.
.
lids punched with holes
.
excitement in night air
.
mystical fireflies
.
.
***********
.
.
walking the dogs
.
fireflies light the way
.
sunset rainbows.
.
.
walking the dogs
.
faeries flit about as fireflies
.
fireflies and rainbows
.
.
fireflies and rainbows
.
dancing with faeries by shore
.
walking the dogs
.
.
siggiofmaine 