Untitled 12

rainy days
chase the clouds away
the open night
the blue-cast day
it falls
on unknowing heads

~ R. Harder

Whither we wander

Whither we wander
and whether we go
we sit and we ponder
particularly slow

on this way or that
a yes or a no
to, a from or an at
a high or a low

and only we move
in words that we speak
with nothing to prove
to make us unique

and whither we wander
our tongue in out cheek
create nothing of wonder
are nothing but meek

and so we deny
the things that could be
the things you and I
could simply reach out and see

~ R. Harder

Warm

green as the grass
blue as the sky
blue as forget-me-nots
on my lanai
their little sun-centers
glowing in gold
their little arms waving
daring and bold
blue as the day
as we watch it unfold
blue in the sunshine
and blue in the cold
then darkness falls in
blue as the twilight
green as fireflies
that dance in the night.

~ R. Harder

Untitled 11

orange, red
yellow, brown
tomato, potato
mustard crown
in a garden
colors grow
in the rows
of seeds I sow
dusky dawn
and dewy down
peas in pods
in pumpkin town
ripe then rotten
swollen and blown
color and smell
set the tone
as the inward
outward die
seeds rebirth
deep inside
then untended,
the rows outgrown,
replanting themselves
where seeds were sown
lettuce defect
beside zucchini
who with cucumber
forms a treaty
radishes in red
dig their mines
beans and peas
strangle their vines
the cherry tomato
drops its bombs
while mint and parsley
sing a psalm
green to yellow
to orange to red
nothing stays
within its bed
the hand unplucking
untrimming, unsown
cannot see
the garden alone
though through touch
it makes its mark
the hand stays blind
to all the bark

~ R. Harder

Untitled 10

the unhappy hour
grows longest
the clock ticks
slow
and yet
when you turn
around
you see
your time is gone
and nothing
can bring it back
once more,

~ R. Harder

dream garden

angels in my dreams
keep me from waking
to the glory road.
with beauty blossoms
the white thorn
with petals of
silk
and a subtle
cyanide scent
in my garden they
grow,
among the mums
and forget-me-nots
they tangle in my
hand
as I reach to
pluck
as I bow to
smell
in the copper light
of my estate
I wonder if I
should
hesitate?

~ R. Harder

Untitled 9

a more happy
pasture is waiting
for me to find

somewhere
out there
somewhere
I cannot go

I wish I
could reach
and hold it tight

but I hold
me back
I must journey
from inside.

~ R. Harder

Untitled 8

The Summer’s dawn
is waking.

out of the winter
spring is born

out of the rush
and fear
and sorrow
new lives new loves
begun.

awaken new
and face the sorrow
turn it into your
day.
all the pain and
fear you’re holding
let it all
pass away.

tear down all that
was gone.
to find a new place
for you
to belong

~ R. Harder

the year ends
with the
spring’s rise
and soon
we must
leave our roots

the sun
though cheery
the skies
though blue
mark an end
of this year
and the
start of
a new

and older
we get
with each
summer’s rise
and as seeds
we depart
to flightier
skies

the winter white
weather lasted
so long
by cold
and endurance
it made us
all strong

and though
it was a
struggle
it’s a struggle
we’ll miss
as the sun dawns
it is welcome
but it marks
an end
to all this

~ R. Harder

the Hour of time

every day is an hour
as the world turns us by
an hour of waiting
too soon we will cry

that hour by hour
becomes day by day
where has it gone
why has time gone away?

as every day is a speck
in the sand of all time
it is but an accent
in an infinite rhyme

of the world as it grows
becomes shaped and defined
as millennia pass
with an eye that is blind

like a guttering flame
lives flicker and spark
they leave existence
without further remark

that every day of our lives
is but an hour in time
that each life is fleeting
seems an infinite crime.

For us every hour
now becomes a day
because each one we have
is a countdown of dismay.

too soon we will pass
and the world will go on
in the death of our hour
to each minute we hold on

every minute is precious
every second is dear.
So have all the love
for the time you are here.

~ R. Harder

Untitled 7

erased
e gone
goodbye
so long.

~ R. Harder

the Sandpiper’s call

the wind laps his legs
like tide ‘round the trees
the branches that grow
toward heavenly seas

and floating in the skies
the winter-white creeps
blown by the ebb

of eddies that weep

in the watery ways,
the paths of the breeze
he floats on his sails
of feathery skis

his feet are his anchor
his rudder a tail
he sports in the wind
above the sea kale

his compass points north
he always flies true
on great ocean waves
of decadent hue

wind-tossed and driven
we push from the shore
that golden gleam beach
is left to find more

though storms dot the skies
on the ocean we brave
he waits on the shore
for us to be saved

his plume is unnoted
but we all know his lore
he watches us wander
and calls us ashore

~ R. Harder

Untitled 6

get up
and see the dawn
of your day
always rising

frozen at the
peak
where it can
rise no more
nor sink

the sky in autumn
color blooms
an angry eye
faces the darkness
falling
you watch and
you wait
when really you
should be moving
and unstall
your life
make it of your
choosing

~ R. Harder

Untitled Ballad

Here in madness, lost in marvel
dark, silence, now alone
from my pitfall, my revival
Knowledge from the unknown

Some can’t see beyond their darkness
the light, the love divine
unblemished in their heart’s abyss.
But I can see. I shine!

Join together. Come and follow!
pursue a heart’s decree.
Only here I lose my sorrow
Now I’m me, wild, free.

~R. Harder

Sunglasses

these glasses see the future
put them on and you’ll see tomorrow
put them on and then you’ll see today

in the summer of our waiting
the sun shades them lightly
into gray.

put them on and you’ll
see what’s waiting
looking out the eyes of yesterday.

~R. Harder

the Wintery Wave

the rain in the ocean
the tears in the sea
the sand on the beach
and you here with me

the cold wind falters
it stings with the salt
the taste on my lips
like lemon and malt

the rain in my eyes
brings tears down my face
it weaves down my hair
in platinum lace

and you here with me
we wander like waves
we flow in and out,
with this tide we are slaves

~R. Harder

Untitled 5

tomorrow is another day
somewhere
my tomorrow is waiting

it waits for me to come
with Past
broken on my brow

tomorrow is another day
I see
but find so far away

I walk a broken path
in hopes
that tomorrow will follow

I am waiting for tomorrow
without
a thought for today

~R. Harder

The West of My Dreams

out in the pine
and Juniper leaves
amid the desert
stands the twisting trees

the Rimrock is red
the tumble weeds flow
out here where
the hidden things grow

the people work
their lives are hard
but joy in life
is writ in scars

and though time has changed it
the strong live there still
where dreams of the west
thrive in Prineville

~ R. Harder

Outside the Branches

with a cheep
and a cheerio
the magpie calls

out my window
the sunlight falls

and in his black
and white
and green
he prances merrily
as he preens
he spurts and sputters
he squeaks and squawks
all through the day
he talks and talks

the branches are
his perching posts
as I, inside,
am his gracious host

as he yabbers the day away
always convincing me
to come out and play.

~R. Harder

the Speckled Plover

the sun a speckled plover
that roves through the trees
a dance of light
that flits around
peeking through the leaves

the million fans that flutter
shifting with the breeze
a blind caress
at random chance
takes me off my knees

to dance in the frozen shade
sun my welcome tease
to quit the dark,
my bower’s bark,
and this lone reprieve

~ R. Harder

Untitled 4

where will I go
in the soft fallen snow
when the past is easy
and the future unknown?

where I’ve been before
is laid out on the floor
in steps depth-measured
over the forested shore

and to look ahead
there is none to be said
to find a path to follow
where no feet have been led

so where to go?
the fast or the slow
where I’ve been
or what I don’t know?

~R. Harder

Untitled 3

I am bound
an arm
a leg
where I step
I am not found
as I’m pulled away

and where I search
I do not seek
in eyes that see
the host and meek
for when I turn
I turn again
and in a circle,
I find a rend
where I had torn
through and tear again
I fall, I pull
I push and frown.
lost in one
lost, not found
where I go
I do not go
with step or foot
or sight or sound.

I lose. I lost.
Bound to go
where
I
am
tossed

~R. Harder

Untitled 1

the dance
the dancer on her lines
a twist, a turn
now alive

the puppet
the master
the hand on the strings
who makes us dance
who makes us sing

our word
one word
in treachery lies

this word
my word
in strings is tied

a pull
a tug
and I am gone

I dance
I leap
for far too long

~R. Harder

Untitled 2

I dance
I sing
I’m many things
I am dark
I am light
I’m the stars
in the night
I am dawn
I am dusk
I am all

in my husk

~R. Harder

Dreams in Cream

we sang, we sang
we chimed
and rang

in lofty towers
we found those
who in rhyme, in prose
pledged in simple shows
a heart, a dream
with wishes in cream
in gowns that flow
like milky snow

and sing, we sing
we chime
we ring

as those that gather
in the morning hour
to see away
the decadent display
the toss of the
bouquet
the final wedding day.

~R. Harder

Porcelain

the petals
in pink
lie in the sink
where petals
in white
deny the night
and upon them falls
the flickering scrawl
of candle light

in the dusky mirror
where shorn and shear
a face hovers near
in a shadow
gone fallow
above the petals so pink
which lie on the brink
neither white nor red
neither alive nor dead
a rose blush
blooms a flush
such a decadent touch

~R. Harder