Rural Summer Mural

Halo of mist on a morn half-awake

Lowing of cattle-beast wafts on the air

Gentle, so gentle, is rural daybreak

Echo of Eden and God walking there

Raindrops on roses, far hills, baby-blue

Heaven lends earth little glimpses, oh my

Meadow-sweeps dazzle with diamonds of dew

Beauty unstoppers a flask held sky-high

Hearty and humble, each task close at hand

Laundry-lines laden with cotton ballet

Coffers of sun-gold spill over the land

Rousing aroma of alfalfa-hay

Happy hens clucking a laid-an-egg boast

Red rooster fluffing his look-at-me strut

Fresh coffee fragrance, berry jam on toast

Life leaves so little to rankle with ‘but’

Somewhere a violinist, soft and slow

Across an ocean of barley and wheat

Touches its tawny timbre with a bow

Stirring a ballad of dust, sultry-sweet

Pink portulaca in pots on a porch

Lazy dog lolls on the cool of the floor

Screen door slaps languidly, noon lights a torch

Garden-gifts gathered for lunch and much more

Purple coneflowers play a petal hymn

Maple-tree awning spawns sit-a-spell shade

Buzz of cicada tunes afternoon’s limb

Simple siesta of cold lemonade

Twilight delivers rose-gold lullaby

Highlighting shivers of leaf on the air

Gentle, so gentle, rural eventide

Echo of Eden and God walking there

© Janet Martin

A Rural Mural (of Ontario's August Countryside)

Ontario's August countryside is lovely to behold.

Landscapes are laid in checkered counterpanes of green and gold

Ditches and creek beds showcase wild-flowered extravagance

Where summer spills its heart in field and garden opulence 

Ontario's August countryside kindles poetic ink

In waist-deep pools of milkweed plumes, magenta and pale pink

In spools and spools of Queen Ann's Lace unrolled in dainty frills

In purple aster rivers, yellow hyssop, vine tendrils   

Ontario's August countryside serves up a wonder-feast

A buffet table groaning with the aftermath of seeds

Inviting us to partake from earth's smorgasbord unfurled

A healthy, hearty helping of nature's joy to the world

Ontario's August countryside is summer's centerfold

A mile-on-mile wide magazine of beauty to behold

Beneath clouds heaped like cauliflower on platters of blue

Page after page is filled with frames to thrill our points of view 

Ontario's August countryside evokes a worship hymn

Stirred by a breeze, harvest-dust-sweet as wheat is gathered in

As gardens become baskets brimming with treasure of fruit

And gardeners feel like dirt-pirates cum-bearing precious loot 

Ontario's August countryside enchants its passenger

Where soon Time claims its dues and shoos us into September 

So look a little longer where the dust of summer flies

Lest we should take for granted what is right before our eyes

...where pasturelands are dappled with cattle, where willows weep

Where leafy awnings toss shadow-piazzas, dark and deep

Where brooks meander, teasing us to slow our quickened stride

Through rural murals of Ontario's August countryside

© Janet Martin