Seasons – Page 6 – lilies, sparrows and grass

Protected: “After Winter”

Igor Burdin Mottled colors flutter
like butterflies,
await
the pristine white
canopies —

Wind-parched leaves
mantle the oak-brown
soil with topaz and jasper
above the dormant seeds
of wilted wildflowers —

Hearken to horse-hoof
raindrops,
the muffled fracture
of petioles letting go
at the eleventh hour

when all the coins of time
are spent
and the egrets of winter
alight
upon the emerald cedar
branches.

Photo credit: Igor Burdin

Let not the words of my silence
engulf you with thoughts
that I am gone—

I am here

Despite the absence
of the warmth of my palms
upon your face

I am here—

Though my song is only
palpable in the coolness
of the summer breeze,
caught in the scent
of flowering meadows

I am here

Through the stealthy moments
while the verdant
leaves turn
from emerald to garnet,
topaz to platinum,
silver to earthen dust—

I am here,
I am always here.

Photography by Valery Chichkin – “At the End of the Day”