A Walk on a Country Road

Listen to Jerry read A Walk on a Country Road

I will take a walk today down an old country road
My pace will be slow as I want to take in each blossom
on a gnarly apple tree next to the stonewall
which meanders along the road

I will sit at times on the wall
and smell the newly mown hay
I will watch bluebirds and swallows
drifting on warm currents of air

I will gaze at a soaring hawk
as he     with binocular eyes
takes in everything he pinpoints below
What a sight that will be!

I will listen for sounds of natural things
water cascading down a mountain stream

the thunderous tail whack of a dam builder
dissonant reverberations of spring peepers
shrill cries of a killdeer protecting her young

ratta-tat-tats of a pileated pirate jackhammering a dead elm
and the soothing chicka-dee-dee-dee of a black-capped songster

I will walk at a slow pace     listen to thoughts coming in
later put them into words of the places I have been
I will recall the crooning of birds     aroma of hay in the field
Contented my soul will be     having observed nature’s yield.