Category: poetry

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Still Pond

There is a secret place on Hampstead Heath
Where ancient trees surround a pond of peace
Where ducks and moorhens strut and preen
Where a silent heron stands guard, unseen

The seasons lap like tides upon the trees
Budding and blooming and scattering leaves
While the pond breathes its living ebb and flow
From winter’s frost-glass to summer’s fire-glow

I visit there to find my resting place
A calm eye amidst life’s swirling pace
I visit there to renew my earthly bond
To find myself, reflected, in the still pond.

Wayne Visser © 2012

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Great Fathers of the Forest

Tall and noble you stand
Members of a sacred council
Silent in wise consensus

I remember your rooted past
See your swaying present
Imagine your reaching future

I sense your patient pulse
Touch your fibrous skin
Embrace your ample girth

You and the earthworms
Alone are the survivors
Of a lost world of giants

You are the guardians of time
The keepers of ancient wisdom
The elders of our earthly tribe

What would you teach us
If we had the humility
To sit at your feet and listen?

What secret knowledge
About surviving and thriving
And growing old gracefully?

What patient lessons
About thinking big, starting small
And aiming high?

I am a comforted babe
Rocked to sleep in the cradle
Of your gentle ways

I am a curious child
Scaling the heights of possibility
In your outstretched boughs

And when I leave
To pursue my impatient life
I carry you in my heart

And when you or I die
You will be my ancestral guides –
Oh, Great Fathers of the Forest

Wayne Visser © 2001

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Oh, To Be A Cloud

Oh, to be a cloud
Adrift in deep blue skies
Without a care
With wisp and flair
No whos or whats or whys

Oh, to be a cloud
Above the world so high
To smile and tear
To disappear
To flit and flut and fly

Oh, to be a cloud
Windswept from shore to shore
Without a home
To call your own
No polestar to implore

Oh, to be a cloud
A blocker of the sun
To rage and roar
To rain and pour
To always spoil the fun

Oh, to be a cloud
Of any shape you please
To bend the glow
Into a bow
To dance and daze and tease

Oh, to be a cloud
A bridge for heaven’s gulf
I’d be arcane
But then again
I’d rather be myself

Wayne Visser © 2010

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Fire Flood

Dewy drops of sun-soaked rays
Become a steady shower
Building to a lashing storm
Of searing, scorching power

Puddles of heat ripple and shimmer
Sparking in the light
Spraying mists of smoky cloud
That scale to towering height

Winds whip up a fiery tide
That crashes wave on wave
On shore of tinder grass and pine
Drowning all beneath the blaze

Valleys swell with molten streams
That snake with eerie glow
Cascading falls of liquid flame
Down mountain gorges flow

At last the tempest’s fury ends,
Leaving wounds of sooty mud
Earth’s charred scars heal to green –
Survivor of the fire flood

Wayne Visser © 2002

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Shapeshifting

A regal king with golden locks
Commands with thunderous roar
The earth and all its kin are scarred
By bloodstained tooth and claw
His form is sleek, his flight is swift
His destiny is clear:
To dominate the open plains
And rule the land through fear

There is another, no less noble
No less strong or bold
Survivor through the ages past
All climes of hot and cold
Her shifting shape moves with grace
Like misty clouds so rare:
She drifts across the dusty land
With gentle rumbling care

Wayne Visser © 2002

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Thistle-Puffs

The thistle-puffs upon the gentle breeze
Shimmer in the sun like fairies’ wings
As seedling thoughts adrift in minds at ease

The rustle sounds among the swaying trees
Whisper of the joy that summer brings
With thistle-puffs upon the gentle breeze

The flowers flirt and dreamy insects tease
Sipping sap and dancing coded rings
As seedling thoughts adrift in minds at ease

The chirping lilt of nature’s symphonies
Harmonise with songs the season sings
Of thistle-puffs upon the gentle breeze

The swirling tides upon the restless seas
Conjure waves of wild imaginings
Like seedling thoughts adrift in minds at ease

The feathered clouds appear as heaven’s keys
Portal to a world of secret things
Like thistle-puffs upon the gentle breeze
And seedling thoughts adrift in minds at ease

Wayne Visser © 2006

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Unwanted Gift

Water is a gift of life
But generous Nature
Gave too much this time

Her Christmas gift
Was never asked for
Was never on anybody’s wish list

It was a fatal surprise
That should never have been sent
That should never have been opened

But now it is too late
For the gift cannot be returned
Cannot be refunded or exchanged

At the post-Christmas sale
Life is going cheap
In the bargain bins of Asia

Now in a sinister twist
Of the true spirit of Christmas
We have a second chance to give

Water is a gift of death
And the greedy Reaper
Took too much this time

Wayne Visser © 2004

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Let Bells Ring Out

There are bells for weddings, bells for births
And bells for calls to prayer
There are bells for mourning, bells for mirth
And bells for freedom’s dare

There are bells for fire, bells for floods
And bells for threatened shores
There are bells for silence, bells that thud
And bells for music scores

So why no bells for Nature’s ways
No bells for dusk or dawn?
Why no bells for dying days
No bells for breaking morn?

And why no bells for summer sun
No bells for winter moon?
Why no bells when autumn’s come
No bells for springtime bloom?

Let bells ring out for living things
All creatures small and great
Let bells ring out: with beating wings
Our messengers of fate

Let bells ring out from mountain peaks
And toll from valleys low
Let bells ring out: Creation speaks
And all the world should know.

Wayne Visser © 2010

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Dandelion

I’ve seen you in the pavement cracks
And growing by the tin-roof shacks
You lace the hills and edge the dales
And cast your net of feathered veils

I’ve heard a girl say you were smoke
And there’s a boy thought you were broke
Your face I’ve touched, so soft and light
And with each wish you’ve taken flight

I’ve seen you ride upon the breeze
And there are insects that you tease
But with each journey that you make
You spread the joy of give-and-take

I’ve heard you called a simple weed
And much besides, but don’t take heed
So much in nature’s whole and true
But nothing’s perfect quite like you

Wayne Visser © 2006

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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Summer Sunshine

The sun shone today
And the whole world came out to play

Boys in flip-flops half-heartedly chasing Frisbees
And bees buzzing dreamily over dazzling flowers
Slow-motion rowers gliding under weeping willows
And swans drifting lazily in their rippled wake

Girls in bikinis slow-roasting like chickens
And students with unopened files on their laps
Entwined couples whispering under shady trees
And friends in tangled knots on vermillion grass

Mums in sun hats making bubbling conversation
And overheated kids exploding like popcorn
Engrossed bookworms sitting on portal benches
And swaying tramps thirsty for a drop of kindness

Dads in shades kicking footballs, beer in hand
And panting dogs on the neighbourhood gossip trail
Joggers and bikers glistening with beaded satisfaction
And me, watching and waiting, writing and wondering …

Today summer unfurled
And playing was the way of the world

Wayne Visser © 2007

Book

Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky.  Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

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