Cicada Song
Based on Aesop's Fable: The Ant and the Grasshopper [aka Cicada]
Cicada sang his constant tune
while nearby worker ants collected.
Opinion was that he neglected
winter stores, instead he crooned.
Cicada’s singing filled the air;
below ground nests were slowly filled.
Ants toiled, not one crumb was spilled;
Cicada continued without a care.
When snow covered the ground and trees,
ants nestled below with winter store,
Cicada’s feeble attempt to ask for
food, denied despite his pleas.
Solemnly Cicada admitted
his song was meant to entertain.
They never told him to refrain;
this justification was submitted.
The colony felt collective anguish,
all summer Cicada’s symphony
in fact, eased their litany - ants
agreed to aid him, not to banish.
Then all were feasting, no one perished.
in summer, the ants would work along
with Cicada nearby, sharing his song -
at winter feast, the music cherished.
Julie A. Dickson 2014
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Agave Spirit
Agave spirit of nectar
The cactus gives forth
Succulent refreshment
For desert dwellers
Who thirst while walking,
A quest across hot sand
Searching for water or truth.
Agave provides an oasis,
A refuge, cool repast.
Agave spirit calls.
Julie A. Dickson 2014
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Low Tide
The view this afternoon is peaceful
With large expanse of blue stretching out
Rocky shore uninhabited
Today I see a veritable water highway:
A freighter plodding slowly, billowing smoke
Sails moving leisurely, crisscrossing lanes
With an occasional motorboat hurrying between them
A small trawler is adrift with Miss Molly on her stern
Fishing poles upright from top beam - lines taut
Thin as etched pencil marks disappearing into the water
Miss Molly pitches in rhythm with the gentle waves
Bent over beachcombers with brightly colored pails
Collect iridescent shells and muted sea glass
A lone sunbather, legs shiny with oil
Sits atop the highest rock
Its low tide and the pools between the rocks
Are teaming with stranded fish – mouths opening
In search of the water that splashes only teasingly
Delaying the return to preferred submergence
Julie A. Dickson
