Kingdom Life Poems, 3 of 4

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The Winter Mountains

The snow dulls the sharp edges of the cold winter mountains.

It smooths away all blemishes until we slide through and leave our mark.

The evergreens, cozy in their white blankets, splash their color blends.

Everything exudes calm, peace, sanity, the beauty is stark.

Kingdom Life Poems, 2 of 4

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The Summer Mountains

The river whispers its promise of relief from the summer sun baked mountains.

The jays hop and bob, offering their opinions on everything while skittishly moving from tree to tree.

The stars, more than you could count in a hundred lifetimes, bright the sky, an infinite pricks of the pin.

A thunder storm rages in the canyon next door and the echoes roll down the valley.

Kingdom Life Poems, 1 of 4

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The Desert

The desert stretches to the horizon, an endless sea of sand and dead brush waiting for the next wind to send them tumbling. 

Sharp, black rocks, alien, grotesque, yet beautiful, punctuate the view, the remnants from volcanos long sense extinct.

The long arms of cactus, point every which way, like signposts meant to remind you how far you are from anything and everything. 

The road carves through faults, from San Andreas to Garlock, it’s a land scarred by quakes, the layers of rock swirl, beautiful and  distinct.

on being eighteen months

My dear Littlest Prince,

How is it possible that you are eighteen months already?  And, how it is possible you are only eighteen months. 

Oh, you are just such a joy of a toddler tornado right now.  So inquisitive.  So determined to keep up with your two big brothers.  And so amazingly good at making messes faster than we can clean them up.  You dismantle a room faster than your brothers ever did, and that’s saying something.

You’ve really taken to riding your little balance bike recently.  That’s so much fun to watch you scoot along and then lift your legs and coast…  We are an active family, so it’s good you like being outside too.  Like?  Love.  You love being outside.  Often taking your shoes out of the cupboard and bringing them to us to put on, while you are still in your pajamas, and we are still eating our breakfast.  And then you throw them at us when we don’t move fast enough.  Outside.  It’s where you want to be.  I don’t blame you.

So amazing watching you grow.  You’re learning things every day.  You’re getting stronger, faster, more coordinated, and smarter every day.  And your silly little expressions.  And your goofball nature.  I’m going to miss that when you find your words and use those more and more to get what you want instead.  Though, it’s going to be fun to talk to you too and have you reply with what’s going on in that head of yours. 

You are getting ready to transition out of your  baby chair.  You are demanding more and more to have the same food that everyone else at the table has.  You are constantly studying the swirling chaos of people and cats around you and sizing it all up, figuring out where you fit in, what’s expected, and what’s acceptable.  All while dealing with more new teeth, and changing nap schedules, and big brothers that don’t always want to share what they are playing with, and parents who can’t always drop everything they are doing to help you in that moment, and, and and…  Life is so very confusing, I know.  It’s fun, too, though.  And full of adventures.

There are so many amazing adventures ahead of you. 

Can’t wait to see you tackle them all. 

I love you.

Love,

Daddy / Matticus / The Jester

dead tree

Nobody could say where the tree had come from.  It just showed up one day.  A dead tree against the far wall of the complex.  Planted firmly in the ground but definitely dead.

They all agreed it hadn’t been there the day before.  Or at least, none of them could remember it.  And it was in such a weird spot in the complex that none of them had pictures they could compare to.  They all just felt like it was new. 

But, if it hadn’t been there before, why would someone go through the trouble of planting a dead tree?

If it had always been there, why were they all surprised to see it?

Things like that did happen in their complex.  One day a couch would show up and the next day it would be gone.  Sometimes it would be beds or a desk.  There was even a refrigerator once.  Those were all easily explainable though, someone offloading junk, and often were gone within a couple days, someone deciding that junk was treasure.  A planted tree was much harder to explain.  They why and how of it were beyond any logic they could come up with. 

Eventually the chatter died down and they went back about their days with a shrug.  Maybe it would disappear too.  That would be interesting.  Was it someone’s junk and would it become someone else’s treasure? 

Time would tell.  In the meantime, they were up one dead tree.