Flickr's Melisenda2010's "La chiesetta di S. Martino", 2013

La chiesetta di S. Martino, originally uploaded by Melisenda2010.

"San Martino - Nestled, Securely, under the Hills"
To stroll, to lean on a balcony, to look out,
And let one's eyes feast, where others have before.
Sunshine, warm after winter, caresses the soil,
Readies it for the first bloom of Spring!
And all a while, San Martino's has stood there,
Weathering each winter, stalwart, symbol of hope,
There through all the changing seasons,
Nestled under hillside shelter, its pink tower,
Standing steady, there for us to reassure!
--JW, for Melisenda2010, March 18, 2013.

Flickr's Steffen Tuck's "Untitled," of Dec 3, 2012.

Untitled, originally uploaded by SteffenTuck.

"Soft Serenity"

Something so soft and subtle,
The casual eye passes bye.
Wait, watch, and wonder,
At pastel patterns playing.

--JW, for Steffen Tuck, who, as always, slows my eye, to great reward, March 1st, 2013

Flickr's Edinburgh Nette's "fall falls

fall falls, originally uploaded by Edinburgh Nette.

"Time Frozen"

Stilling the stream
Of rushing water,
Time frozen,
So Nature's glory,
As Autumn caught
On it's fatal way
Dead downstream,
All the better seen!

-- JW, for Janette, a deep bow, February 26, 2013.

Flickr's lia_'s "shadows"

shadows, originally uploaded by lia___.

"Shadows"

Shadows speak, of what we seek,
Still out-of-reach, desired, not touched.
Thus shadows allure, now that is sure.

--JW, for lia_, February 20, 2013

Flickr's hedbavny's "Auf da Simmeringer Had - Vienna, off the beaten path - Simmeringer Haide", February 2013

Auf da Simmeringer Had - Vienna, off the beaten path - Simmeringer Haide, originally uploaded by hedbavny.

"Life Passes on Bye"

Power pulses high above,
Unaware that bitter frost grips
All below in the vice of death.
Where once flesh flowers bloomed,
Now all lies abandoned, doomed.
Every living thing returns to dust.

--JW, for Hedbavny, February 19, 2013.

Flickr's Jacob Schere's Meiji Jingu (Shrine) Clear Spring Well, Self Portrait

Meiji Jingu (Shrine) Clear Spring Well, Self Portrait, originally uploaded by jacob schere [reassessing pause].

"Well Gazing"

Three worlds I saw below,
One - made of pebbles, and stones -
Really was below, and would let me go
No further down. Sealed, definite, stop!
One - seen below, but not really so -
Threw a feathery expanse of delicate
Limbs, a protective shroud, over me.
Yet there was a third, beyond,
Grey, and powder blue, impenetrable;
But parting its veil, here and there,
I thought to glimpse, or did I imagine,
A force, a life, an ineffable energy.

--JW, for the well-gazer, Jacob Schere, February 5, 2013

Flickr's Paulpod's "Shed pheasants"

Shed pheasants, originally uploaded by Paulpod.

On Being a Pheasant.

Once I flew, and crew,
Now I hang and ripen.
But, it gets yet worse,
For they will eat me too!
- JW, Dec 27, 2012

Walford, (Ewan) John, & Maria Dellù, Wedding, Dec 16, 1972 (photo by Claudio Savignago)

Walford, (Ewan) John, & Maria Dellù, Wedding, Dec 16, 1972 (photo by Claudio Savignago), originally uploaded by johnwalford.

Walford-Dellù - Forty Years On,
December 16, 2012

Separated by six years of war, sides, and more;
Separated by country, language, taste and culture;
Raised so differently, harsh town and country ease;
One faced so young into life’s severest challenges;
The other too long protected from its stormy blasts.
So separated, so different, so sure no chance to meet.

Who would have thought, could have guessed?
Who predicted that two such paths could cross?
Or in the crossing, either or anything be noticed?
Does even art, education, the thirst for knowledge
Usually bring two from so far, so close? Maybe!
But into a viable and lasting union – that’s rare!

Encounter! That’s a marvel! Attraction, a mystery!
In Amsterdam, famed ‘great arc of the refugees,’
There in Amsterdam, anything may seem possible!
In the sixties and seventies, there did pot abound,
And long-haired hippies by the shipload! – Us too!
But there was more to Amsterdam than hippies!

Young naval officer, in Nazi war-camp, finding faith,
Freed, returns home, studies, teaches theology and art.
Now there, in such miracle, a new story finds a start.
Drawn by whispers of ideas that set minds swimming,
Young disciples from odd places are thereto drawn,
And two young lives find fresh opening, just after dawn!

A chance encounter, after a long journey, breakfast
Bringing welcome renewal, warming body and soul.
Conversation that opens windows into seeking minds,
Finds concord, where concord unexpectedly resides.
God honors no divisions of class or culture! Truth shines
In radiant beauty, wherever it is received and cherished.

Forty years on! Yet two more countries later, together!
Children born, raised, loved and launched - released
To raise families of their own - From solitude, a tribe!
Many years of sharing stories, stories that give meaning
To the mystery of each couple’s path into deeper union,
Held together by some marvelous glue, the world calls love.
-- John Walford, for Maria Dellù, for forty December 16ths.

Flickr's Hedbavny's "Gravestone at the Church Wall - Kirche St. Nikolaus, Stein an der Donau," 2012

Gravestone at the Church Wall - Kirche St. Nikolaus, Stein an der Donau, originally uploaded by hedbavny.

"Cristofero"

Cristofero,
Tell me, now:
Shall He you bore,
Bear us?

--JW, for Ingrid Hedbavny, November 15, 2012

My own piece: "It Comes To This, Nov 2012"

It Comes To This, Nov 2012, originally uploaded by johnwalford.

"It Comes to This, Nov 2012"

Once it was all anticipation, a slight seed.
We keenly watched it becoming, itself.
Tossed in the wind, in the heat of the sun,
Glorious in its ripeness. Then came the Fall.
Hard to observe, it stalks up on us all;
Yet, finally, it comes down to this.

-- JW, on bidding farewell to a long-time colleague, Nov 15, 2012