Nature Poems Irish Poet Quotes

“In Green Grandeur by Stewart Stafford

Under towers of green pillars,
Grow those leafed palaces,
Stretching out their tall limbs,
Up skyward in thanksgiving.

Saplings with peacock foliage,
A forest floor carpeted thickly,
With dead leaves, kindling and,
Subterranean roots peeking out.

Storm-crooked trunks stooping,
To the lightning-shattered bows,
Fingers of dying sunlight reach,
To caress the ivy-entwined bark.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved”
― Stewart Stafford

“Then, the spider will eat it.”
― Vincent S. Coster, There Are Words

“Ode To A Spider's Web by Stewart Stafford

O to dwell in the skeletal palace,
Of the spider's ceiling cobweb and,
Spy on all as none can spy on you,
An arachnid deity astride the world.

Even with many eyes to see things,
It's blind to those monstrous features,
Nimble, lean legs, as wicked fingers,
Weave a webbed masterpiece home.

Outdone by his garden cousin's web,
With backlit, bejewelled beads of dew,
Undulating in a tepid, animating breeze,
The house spider is a satisfied squatter.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Crowned Snail by Stewart Stafford

The vortex-shelled snail,
Hermit rider of the dome,
Silver trails cross the garden,
This green, perennial home.

Playing Russian Roulette,
With giant feet or wheels,
Survivor of stone attacks,
Battering rams birds wield.

A journey with no beginning,
Nor a destination to travel to,
Snug in his fortress castle,
A crowned king, incognito.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Watery Cosmos by Stewart Stafford

O realm of Poseidon,
Dura Mater of all hidden -
Salty soup of subtle plankton,
And breaching whales unbidden.

O friendly ocean,
Looking glass of sky steep -
Shooting stars bioluminescent
Whirlpool galaxies of the deep.

This savage playground,
Cradling hurricane fury,
The birthing pool of the living,
A submerged mass cemetery.

As light fades fast above,
So a lunar-dark seabed rears up,
Slowly enveloping all and sundry,
Surface in a seahorse stirrup.

Seeds from the Amazon,
Passengers of the Atlantic Conveyor,
Nestling on English coasts
Gifts of an aquatic purveyor.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Cycle's Whisper by Stewart Stafford

A crisp mountain breeze,
Whispers on verdant meadows,
In the starlings' murmuration,
Bodies flutter as the wind blows.

River salmon leap upstream,
To the places of their siring,
All the tests of life in the flesh,
With thrashing bodies expiring.

Starving bears lie in wait to
Shorten the fading quest,
Or a moribund swim home,
To a watery boneyard's rest.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Spinning Year by Stewart Stafford

Warm days, leaves of green,
Winter's looming touch between,
Harvesting in chill of night,
Spiders crawl in roused delight.

Rearranging the hibernacle,
My living quarter tabernacle,
To see out the darkened months,
Until come Spring's timed shunts.

Emerge into a world of change,
Earth's mother hand will rearrange,
Another tree ring sagely earned,
See around a new corner turned.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Stonebridge Forest by Stewart Stafford

Woke to accusatory dark clouds,
Growling menace of distant storms,
The wrecking ball hung lifeless,
Sun - blinding me with temporal light.

A labyrinthine drive to Stonebridge,
Transporting tunes of my pomp,
Stopped for a tasty king's breakfast,
Simpatico stares from the waitress.

The river's alleviating rush past;
A silver ribbon pulses in my veins,
Positive ions cleanse city toxins,
Welcomed to a placid homecoming.

Fisherman dangling death downriver,
Enthroned on the bank, skimming stones,
I tried to top my record each time,
Teasing out mysteries in a green maze.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Birnam Oak by Stewart Stafford

Medieval guardian, limpet oak,
Reinforced branches, sunlit soak,
Gnarled limbs in supplicant pose,
A statuesque deity in thorny repose.

Set up tent 'neath a canopy deep,
Where my pilgrim forbears sleep,
Midges swarming campfire's glow,
And drowsy me, to slumber go.

May roots prosper far from sight,
Defying storm, flame, chainsaw's bite,
Give verdant breath to creation's plan.
Until Earth falls from human hand.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“A Magic Hour’s Dreaming by Stewart Stafford

Is there a sight more fair than wheaten fields,
Awaiting the sun's ambush to potently ignite?
Colour vibrates beyond the eye revealed,
To live, dance and breathe in honeyed light.

Nature’s palette, painted hues so bright,
Invites the bees to sip and man to dream,
Of engineered art, dazzling to the sight,
Authored lightning in a celestial seam.

The creator’s canvas, mint beyond decay,
Invites the inner child to replenish at source,
Where Nature’s staff casts shadows away,
Friendships bond as a trickling stream's course.

An eyeblink flash carved in history's tree,
Treasured riches pooled of those by our side.
For in sepia’s sunflower memory,
We court the hand of an agreeable bride.

Fading birdsong underscores this bottled time,
In butterfly hearts, the hourglass stilled sublime.
Autumn's leaves, ochre embers, curtsied fall,
Farewell Summer, until roused in New Year's call.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“God's Grand Weather Machine by Stewart Stafford

Some say: 'Send storm clouds back to sender;
Into God's omnipotent weather machine.'
Let them come, I say, and cleanse me,
Reborn for the second time as a teen.

Improvising with nature's gifted props;
Perspective in motion, despite the scene,
To go without sleep for fear of nightmares?
Insomniac strike - we're dreamers, not the dream.

Skies beyond our grasp caress down;
As raindrop punctuation marks careen,
Spin your watery partner on the floor,
Absent of weather critics venting spleen.

Thunderous applause greets our every move,
Hoping lightning's ovation strikes the forest trees.
We shuffle and shimmy as sky spray slicks steps,
Dancing to judges' scorecards of degrees.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford