In Spring, Leave

view of Keller Ferry on the San Poil / Columbia Rivers from State Route 21 in Washington State on March 31, 2024

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem.

Wherever I am, I remember. I remember all living things that flourish on this earth. A bee crawls on a coneflower. A butterfly darts here and there. A slug leaves his trail on the sidewalk. A bullfrog croaks in Fiddle Creek. Arrowleaf Balsamroot bloom all spring on the sunny slopes outside of town. Mule deer eat my flowers. A rabbit darts across our path into the rabbitbrush. A coyote pauses, then disappears into the sagebrush. Cumulous clouds bump together, darkening, growing into cumulonimbus thunder clouds ready to dump rain on the land. The deep swoosh of the breeze sings in the Ponderosa pine forest. A chickadee chatters and squirrel answers. A chipmunk dashes across the fallen log.

I think of these. I think of these as gone— lost in the dust of planet too hot for this kind of life. All of us gone, and Earth becomes Mars. It’s too much to bear, to imagine.

And this photo, this view of Keller Ferry on the San Poil / Columbia Rivers from State Route 21 in Washington State on March 31, 2024 captures all of this life and holds the memory that we can still save.

Resources

NASA: Climate Change–Vital Signs of the Planet.
NASA: Sea Levels
NASA: Sea Levels FAQ
NASA Earth Observatory
NASA: Climate / Solutions Resources
Climate Stripes [NOAA]
NOAA: Climate
Washington Department of Health: Climate Change
Washington Department of Ecology
US Department of Agriculture: Climate Change in the NorthWest

Poetry

In Spring, Leave

Leave the city behind
Climb the tallest hill
Turn around and breathe in
Breathe in the fresh air
and the verdant scene
of the azure sky
with clouds stretching
across the horizon
jagged mountains as
ripples of the land
ever spreading outward
from a boundary of the sky blue lake
carrying the breeze that flows
gently back to you
with the scent of the Ponderosa pine
standing as majestic King
of the Land, arms welcoming you
opening out to the valley below
to notice what will be missed
when earth’s delicate dance
loses the melody of life;
Leave the city behind
Leave the worries behind
Look what earth gives
Choose to give back
Choose to sing a song
of earth and give back what it needs
to carry your song
the flora and fauna songs
the song before you:
Leave with the song
Leave and keep singing:
I follow nature’s call
I hear its song
I act to live
for our green earth
our blue planet
and the life on earth.
Sheri Edwards
04.16.24 107.365.24
Poetry/Photography
Photo: 3.31.2024 Keller Ferry
on the San Poil / Columbia Rivers