Perhaps because

perhaps because
it is Autumn
I think of my mother

the season when
her last illness
began many years ago
and the trees
outside her hospital
window

I read to her
from the Psalms
and poets she would
know from long ago
and new poets too

most of all
I remember her faith
and unconditional love
that is with me still

From the Psalms:

Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty:
neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
or in things too high for me.

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself,
as a child that is weaned of his mother:
my soul is even as a weaned child.

Psalm 131: 1 – 2





October Poems

October goes by
one day at a time
lowering
storm windows
here and there

2013

soft grey sky
and waves to shore
autumn songs

2014

a small card
in a devotional book
from a thrift store

words of encouragement
from one person to another

I keep the card with the book
and its history today
and tomorrow

2017

L ove of literature
I nspires countless
B eautiful hours of
R eading many
A uthors, and sometimes
R ereading beloved books
Y early

LIBRARY

WestWard Quarterly
Fall 2018

fragrance of leaves
in the gardens
what good friends
we became
as we grew older

Time of Singing poetry journal
Fall 2019

They Gave Us Life: Celebrating Mothers, Fathers & Others in Haiku. Edited by Robert Epstein. Middle Island Press, 2017.

Poems are by Ellen Grace Olinger.

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com
Photo by Juris Freidenfelds on Pexels.com

Autumn Archives

lake and sky
the same color
Autumn Equinox

September 23, 2010

above
the old garage
autumn treetops

September 29, 2014

as the days
begin to shorten
my heart is drawn
to pray more
and contemplate
the Light of the World

John 1: 5a (KJV):

And the light shineth in darkness . . .

October 7, 2013

forming the shape
of a butterfly
two gold leaves

October 21, 2013

ordering
a Christmas wreath
for my parents’ graves
even though I know
they are not there

November 6, 2012

reading
Emily Dickinson
on a rainy day . . .
a gold leaf stays
on the branch

November 6, 2013

light snow
on harvested fields
peace of small roads

November 14, 2014

garden journal
through the seasons
every photo a prayer

November 5, 2019

“garden journal” was the Daily Haiku: Nov. 4, 2019.
Charlotte Digregorio’s Writer’s Blog

Photo by Karl – October 29, 2018
Part of a longer post, Haiku and Photos, on November 5, 2019.

Poems are by Ellen Grace Olinger.

Autumn Archives – Poems From Psalms And Nature