these are times for vases
I’ll leave vacant
and not cut the roses lilies daffodils
blooming in my garden
I’ll feed house crickets to the song finch
for this is its molting season
it will sing again … or die
like the crickets
time
once a dove flew against my window
to drop hurt … still breathing
I caged and healed it
watched it orient and fly
watched it taloned by a diving hawk
time
oh, now is time in the full of empty
when smiles are merely stretch-ed lips
and fog trails from my fingertips
and I wear his slippers
I shall sit upon my lawn
close to the roses lilies daffodils
and breath the fragrance
of invisible of presence
Bonnie Marshall
Artwork by Qi Baishi
Proem... 
Sometimes it’s better to let things be as they are and not try to preserve them anywhere except in our memories. A wistful and poignant poem, Bonnie.
Thank you, Sharon. I know your wisdom comes from experience. Hope you realize I value and learn from your writing, strong woman you!
Exquisite!
Pleased you think so, Simon, for I consider you a master poet. Smiles …
There is something vaguely disquieting about this poem, Bonnie, summarized well by the words used in the title, “now is time in the full of empty.” There is a feeling of wistful melancholy, of ill-disguised pain, and of loss. Yet there also seems to be a slight glimmer of hope, a tiny kernel of optimism, a sense that life goes on and that healing can occur.
Spot on, Mike. I admire realistic strength in people … and I recognize it in your writing and photography. Thank you for your gift of analysis. Very much.
This is lovely Bonnie. Thanks for posting. I’m enjoying your book of poems. God bless!
Thank you for buying my poetry, Cindy. Since you’ve known me for a long time your comments are very meaningful. Smiles …
Well said. I enjoy reading your poems.
Andrew, please know I value your wise site and your following of my poetry. Smiles…
Beautiful Bonnie…. your words carry far as I sit looking out at the live oak welcoming them to move through me. Thank you dear poet…..
What a lovely transcendental thought, Jana! The poem reflected my dove and hawk experience in 1986 … there was a white bird flying and then hawk and empty sky. Only nature. Smiles, dear friend.
So beautiful. What great work, Bonnie!
To know you think so, Elle, pleases me very much. Thank you … smiles.
Breathtaking!
Thank you, Nancy. Hopefully, people read it as a basically optimistic poem, despite the title. Smiles …
Gosh, Bonnie, this is beautiful with a full sense of presence and a lilt to pull you in. I love it!
Well, John, thank you very much. With that title, I didn’t want it to seem hopeless … which was not at all my plan for it. Appreciate your insight.