nature’s abounding with beauty so rare
she’s giving birth everywhere
richness of color and texture in form
simple or finely adorned

meadows moist, so luscious and greening
petals reaching, blossoming
cricket, locust, mockingbird singing
while every leaf is glistening

for brilliance of stars and brightness of skies
feathers so graceful in flight
thunder and lightning and wetness of rain
seasons—the unbroken chain

dusty dunes undulating, dancing
while restless winds go wandering
toad, chameleon, spider parading
while a torrid sun is simmering

may we live aware of her beauty
caring for the least of these
and always seek to share in the bounty
that she gives so graciously

[the text above is from a song; I can’t find any trace of who it’s by, but I remember it from decades ago; I had the lyrics written down in one of my journals from childhood, a reminder of what mattered to me then and still matters to me now, and my own ramblings were carefully wrapped around this block of text; if anyone recognizes the words and can tell me what the song is, who sang it, or anything else about it, I’d be very grateful; on another note, all of these photos were taken last summer in Sunset Bay at White Rock Lake; that happens to be one of my favorite spots; the pier you see on the right in the first photo is the one I visit often; similarly, I was sitting under my favorite tree when I took that picture, and that’s also whose branches you see in the third photo; wildlife shown: American coots (Fulica americana), mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos), brown Chinese geese (a.k.a. swan geese, Anser cygnoides), great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), rock doves (Columba livia), and perhaps a few I missed or couldn’t identify]