Mary de La Valette

It’s October
In Canada
And I’m still sitting outside
On my deck.
The world is warming
And who knows
How long this beauty
Will continue.

The sun is low in the trees.
Only the tops of the spruce and pin […]

The old myths
Are all dead.
From Mount Olympus to the Ajanta caves.
Knights slaying dragons,
God,
Country,
All dead.
Smothered
In a blanket
Of screens, iPhones, computers
Self absorption and […]

All the rains of the Universe
Will not sweeten this little planet.

This evil cancer
Called
Exxon, Monsanto,
Rasytheon, Union Carbide,
Weyerhauser, Hyundai,
Mitsubishi, Maxxam,
Ciba-Geigy, Merck,
Wall […]

(Featured image: bearded seal in Arctic. Credit Allan Hopkins, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Dawn breaks.
The chorus begins
The leaves rustle
The wind plays.
The mourning dove’s plaint
A far-off chickadee
The r […]

(Featured image credit Julian Macedo, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The darkest, longest night.
Earth sleeps.
Life waits.
A hush of fear,
Anticipation,
Wonder, hope,
That the light will return
And save us from […]

(Featured image: crow outside the Bin Forest near Huntly, Scotland. Courtesy Wolf Clifton – Animal People, Inc.)

The crow that wakes me
Announcing dawn
Carries me back,
In these first, soft, clear […]

(Featured image credit Julie Falk, CC BY-NC 2.0)

November trees,
Naked in their beauty.
Graceful bare arms
Reaching for the still-warm sun
A tangle of the finest dark lace
Against the pale winter […]

(Featured image: working elephants chained in Nepal. Courtesy Wolf Gordon Clifton)

The machines roar
In the forest
On the factory farm,
On the trails,
In the skies,
In the oceans.
Nowhere is there […]

(Featured image: monkey atop Tibetan Buddhist stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. Courtesy Wolf Clifton – Animal People, Inc.)

And the giant, silent Buddha
With eyes of leaden, emerald fire
Quietly […]

(Image credit: Adam Bailey, CC BY-ND 2.0)

Wild horses.
Flowing manes
Exuberant screaming
Thundering over the plains
In an ecstasy of freedom.

Pale, blond palominos
Midnight black steeds
Appaloosas and […]

(Featured image courtesy Wolf Clifton)

She is beautiful
In all her moods
And seasons.
In heavy rains, brooding,
In Winter’s death, defiant,
In Spring’s rebirth,
Joyous.
In the fullness of […]

(Featured image credit: Srdjan Jovanovic, used under CC BY 2.0)

That low guttural squawk
At dusk.
Guardian of the Forest
Some say Creator of Mankind.
What do you think
About the destruction of your […]

(Featured image credit: Lolu Photography, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

They have run all day
With the caribou.
Now, silvered shadows
On the moonlit tundra
They gather.
In one small last circle
They raise […]

(Featured image: Kestrel, a member of the falcon genus associated with Egyptian gods Ra and Horus. Credit Tim, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

All Hail to RA
Giver of Life
Who brings forth
The fruit and the […]

(Photo credit: Colleen P, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In little hidden places
The red fox and rabbit only know
Live the tiny forest flowers.
Mayflowers, foam flowers,
Star flowers, wood sorrel.
Wood […]

(Photo credit: Alaska Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

I am wolf.
I am caribou.
I am the circle and the blossom
And the unfolding dance.
I am the rich red life-giving […]

(Featured image credit: laffertyryan, used under CC BY 2.0)

Evening enfolds Her stillness
In a calm, dark mantle.
The Mystery is in my nostrils,
Thick in my mouth.
I can touch it.
It is breath on my […]

(Featured image credit: Brian K YYZ, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The light
Is most beautiful
In the early morning,
Quietly glistening
On dewdrops
And spiders’ webs.

It is, as if
Our poor suffering […]

A wasteland
Destruction everywhere
Broken trees
Jagged earth
Silence, ugliness,
Desolation.

Where once birds sang,
Squirrels scolded,
Where hazy sunlight
On patches of moss
Gave life to ferns
And tiny […]

(Featured image: stranded pilot whale. Credit Franzi Richter, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

They slip quietly into extinction
Little fragile ones,
Dusky seaside sparrows,
Mission blue butterflies.
Great […]