Summer Days
Beneath a broad-leafed maple tree, the sun
Spreads shifting green-shade shadows on the lawn.
As overhead, where new life has begun,
The chirps of hungry hatchlings greet the dawn.
The coolness of the morning dew belies
The mid-day heat that soon will sear the air
And fall like silent rain from cloudless skies
To bathe the earth in whispered, wordless prayer.
Yet underneath the tree a freshing breeze
Anoints the sheltered shade as sacred space
Where angels, dressed as butterflies and bees,
Descend as earth and heaven interlace.
And there the little child who leads them plays,
And idly whiles away his summer days.
We Dreamed of Tomorrows
The chill winter wind bites through flesh to the bone
As grey steely skies freeze the sun in its place.
My exhaled breath adds a cloud of its own,
Congealing to ice on my hair and my face.
How often we walked on this path to the sea
On warm summer days when the dune grass was green.
We danced to the sound of the waves; we were free.
We dreamed of tomorrows and things yet unseen.
The children we raised now live lives of their own.
The years came and went, with a blink and a blur,
What once was unseen has become what is known,
And dreams we once dreamed have become what once were.
I shiver as wind chills my flesh to the bone
And walk on the path through the dune grass, alone.
James A. Tweedie lives in Long Beach, Washington. To date he has published six novels, three collections of poetry, and one collection of short stories with Dunecrest Press. His poetry has appeared nationally and internationally in both online and print publications. He received first place in the 2021 Society of Classical Poets poetry competition, and was a Laureate’s Choice Award winner in the 2021 Maria W. Faust sonnet contest.
Sparks of Calliope 