Dogwood Rhapsody: A Toast for Midsummer's Eve Fairy Teas and Other Woodland Frolics

Dogwood Rhapsody
A Whimsical Toast for Midsummer's Eve Fairy Teas and Other Woodland Frolics. Gentle little dogwood, princess of the woods, I love thee. I humbly submit this poem to your beauty and for use in all woodland fairy gatherings.

slender fairy dogwood

gracious waving frond

woodland princess presides

ore' reflections in the pond

regal, royal dogwood

dainty maiden girl

arrayed in emerald splendor

bejewel'd with opal and pearl

cheeky little dogwood 

hides midst stately birch

like a saucy little child

annoying her elders in church

gracious regent dogwood  

smiles upon the forest floor

scattered bracken and fern

worship and adore

waxy-pink dogwood blossoms'

scroll-rolled petal tip

offers milky fresh bouquet

for butterflies to sip

enchanted dogwood blossoms 

for dryads, nymphs and sprites

tiny china cups and saucers

for midsummer tea party nights

~marilisa

Lawns get literary on Athens tour - Decaturdaily.com

This venue, a fund-raiser for the Athens-Limestone Public Library in Decatur, Alabama, features poetry readings and garden tours at local homes in the area. I discovered, quite by accident, that my poem 'Trillium and Pine' will be featured. Here is the quote from the Decature Daily:

This Literary Lawns Garden Tour will include the “Passover Blessing” at 260 Brookwood Road, home of Mary and Joe Stephenson; “Bonsai Haiku” at 206 Shady Lane, home of Amy and Jimmy Woodroof; “Waters by Night,” the home of Jackie and Fred Bickley at 202 Shady Lane; the home of Barry Davis, at 107 Shady Lane, reflects “Emerson and Thoreau”; the home of Virginia and Theo Calvin at 200 Shady Lane is reminiscent of one of my favorites, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “A Secret Garden;” and thoughts of “Trillium and Pine,” a poem by Marilisa Sachteleben, can be found at 271 Brookwood Road, the home of Cindy and Jerry Evans.

Here is a reprint of my 'Trillium and Pine'

warm wine glow
tranquility flow
trillium and pine
rthym and rhyme

some things to grow
some to let go
sad memory time
drink blood red wine

feel the days go
rain and then snow
warm summer wine
rosemary and time

good with the bad
happy i've had
time upon time
blessed be mine

up one steep hill
some remain still
rest in the vale
tell of the tale

mem'ry is song
singing along
verse and refrain
of lyrical pain

say what you will
life's a bitter pill
swallow it fast
don't let it last

smile at the dark
hold fast on the mark
what's dim in the night
twill clear with the light

you don't understand
you don't see the plan
don't fear what's not clear
hold onto what's dear

what you cannot see
may not really be
no menace to make
no dark shadow take

the trillium still blooms
in deep new-spring gloom
white as a maid
born in the shade

warm autumn wine
tho blood red, be thine
now is the time
for reason and rhyme
trillium and pine

~marilisa 10/22/09

Lawns get literary on Athens tour - Decaturdaily.com

Big Lake Poems: Trillium and Pine

I'm creating a volume of poetry that I call 'The Big Lake Anthology' about my life and memories growing up near Lake Michigan, or The Big Lake as we called it. This one 'Trillium and Pine' is centered around a white tri-petaled flower, also known as grandiflorum, native to Michigan's old-growth forests and protected by the DNR. This early spring blossom is welcomed every year with a festival in my home town. Some trillium are red and so my poem reflects those species in metaphor. It also celebrates the short lives of my two infant daughters, deceased at birth, Mary Therese and Isobella Raine Sachteleben.

warm wine glow
tranquility flow
trillium and pine
rhythm and rhyme

good with the bad
happy I've had
time upon thyme
trillium white wine

from flower bower 

then turns the hour

up a steep hill
some remain still

some things to grow
some to let go

rest in the vale
tell of the tale

sad winter time

crusted in tear-salt rime

gall bitter vine

blood red wine

mem'ry is song
singing along
verse and refrain
of lyric-ripe pain

sing to the dark
cling to the mark
libate the night

drink to the light

feel the days go
rain and then snow
fresh summer wine
rosemary and time

the trillium still bloom
in deep new-spring gloom
white as a maid
born in the shade

pine stands true
ever green-blue
withstanding the pain
shining the in the rain

warm autumn wine
golden twilight, thine
now is the time
for reason and rhyme
trillium and pine.