Summertime Blessings...

A blessing of this stay-at-home summer has been hours spent at New Jersey lake and seaside beaches and at the Totowa Pool until it was flooded in the August 11 torrential rainstorm and closed early. Another blessing has been sitting by my spectacular sunflower garden. Last summer I only had a few sunflowers, but the Monarch butterflies flocked to them. This summer the bees have been plentiful, but I've only seen one Monarch. That reminds me of one of my earliest poems, which I'll share with you now...

Photo credit: wired.com

There Used To Be Butterflies in New Jersey

I remember the day the monarchs held court on Cupsaw Beach

And filled the air with tangerine profusion

As they soared and danced with natural choreography.

There used to be butterflies in New Jersey.

They haven’t left completely,

But I see fewer every year

And miss their lilting frivolity, color, and grace.

Today, I strolled a lane in South Carolina,

And was gifted with more species than I know,

The sum greater than I’ve seen in years.

Praise God, they simply filled my heart with joy

As they danced with gay abandon among the wildflowers.

They flitted against the sky with petal-soft wings

As resplendent in hew as the blooms

They landed momentarily upon, then sprang

Into fanciful Fantasia pirouettes.

Maude Carolan

Maude in her garden