Hola!! :))

NOT WITHOUT BEAUTY


It’s been a hard year
but not without beauty:

cancer has stolen flesh
and gifted benevolent scars;

death has embraced a mother
and gathered disparate siblings;

love has bestowed warm breath,
the contours of its face plain
as witnessed through an unseen veil;

and cool indifference has offered
its full-frontal smiling sympathy.

Back in the old house
in Andalusian foothills
I sit on the evening terrace
and watch kittens in the woodpile
sparring cub-like,
tails stiff, electric;

swallows skim the pool in ribbon dance,
returning tight to their nest
beneath hefty seasoned rafters;

stubbled hillsides opposite
are shaded folds of rose while
cantering stallions raise dust
in the arroyo below.

It’s been a beautiful year
but not without hardship;

hardship becoming plenty
through the gift of loss.