“Autumn Dusk” and “Mourning Dove”, a poem and a tanka.

“Night Fire Road”, janekohut-bartels, watercolor, 2010

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Photo to the east

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Watercolor, 2006, Jane Kohut-Bartels, “Dawn”

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Stuttering winds blow across

Clouds tinted by the failing sun.

Brittle air softens,

Now a faded blue–

Shade of an old man’s watery eyes.

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A late flock of Sandhill cranes lift off,

Pale bodies blending in the

Twilight with legs

Flowing dark streamers,

Their celestial cries fall to

Earth–

A harsh, chiding rain.

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The trees in the valley

Are massed in darkness

As waning light leaches

Color from nature,

Creeps from field to hillock

And all below prepares for the

Rising of the Corn Moon.

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Even frogs in the pond

Listen between croaks

For the intention of the night.

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Barn Owl, J. Kohut-Bartels, 1999, watercolor

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A mourning dove cries

It is such a mournful sound

Perhaps a fierce owl

Has made it a widow.

Oh! It breaks my heart, her cry.

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Chessie coming through a flower bed of zinnias. 2000- Oct. 13, 2014. We miss you, Chessie.

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Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2015, from “White Cranes of Heaven”, Lulu.com, 2011.

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Tags: "White Cranes of Heaven", Autumn, Autumn Dusk, lulu.com, poems, tanka