Toil Not and Neither Spin

Dried leaf cover by snow at daytime

My father believed in flowers.

Winter winds blew away the petals.

Broke the seed pods open.

His body feeds a garden now

One that waits for the sun’s return.

 

Somewhere an animal makes a winter nest.

Frogs lay frozen under the leaves.

What’s a soft animal to do when ice creeps in?

We slow down. We curl up. We look inward. We sleep.

 

Our cosmos is a cooperative.

The sun, the moon, and stars cooperate.

Humans and animals, trees, and the Earth.

When we realize that love is a mutual enterprise,

We can build a better world.

 

Poem by Fred Pierre

Fred Pierre writes from the intersection of nature and technology. He’s a library systems expert with a computer security background, but it’s his love for the natural world and commitment to social justice that inspires him to write daily. Fred’s writing examines the human condition with precision, compassion and humor.