Poems by Barbara Daniels
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The Gold Tongue
by Barbara Daniels
From Canary Spring 2014
Barbara Daniels lives in the Big Timber Creek watershed, which drains into the Delaware River.
She wants to let the world
be the world, patient accumulation
of leaves, beautiful wheel of the sky,
slabs of rock an open book of mercy.
What she desires-gold tongue
of a purple iris, sweet light in trees.
A hawk turns, lifts its ragged wings.
She is her body, these lips, this hand.
Pink shrubs border the river.
Blossoms fill branches. Leaves
and grasses do not lack tenderness.
She sees that they never stop rippling.
© Barbara Daniels
Trees Full of Light
by Barbara Daniels
At the lip of woods,
trees express delight,
every word a long
vowel. A tree’s
desires are met in air:
sunshine and sameness,
the great continuities.
Untroubled trees
turn their leaves
in the light, each
to the sun, each
with easy work to do.
They approve
my affection,
my long meanders
and frivolous hat.
Why not be sisters
while day remains?
When wind dips
branches and gently
lifts them, trees
let slip what they
don’t need, sift
needles and seed pods
into the shade.
© Barbara Daniels