Dear Citizen,

(Prior post, worth pondering again...)
It is entirely up to you how you interpret this photo. The nature lover in me notes it as a message from Mother...

Dear Citizen,

   You seem to have become preoccupied since my last message...are you paying attention?! You of all people, camera in hand, eyes like a near sighted hawk- I've left little notes for you everywhere. Remember the Garter Snake you stepped on just last week? A surprise to you I'm sure, but a note from me none the less.  Take heed! The beauty all around is a gift from me to you and yours, but have you done enough to promote it's significance? 

   The fields are aplenty, but the soil/soul of nature has been neglected and abused. The tiniest of hosts have been starved...the plants, the roots that I have created are in dire need of compassion. The forests, if allowed- will heal themselves, the air and waters too. I have created an ecological model that sustains itself, will right itself in time. However- the good stewards of the land are most appreciated and are indeed needed for their necessary work in feeding their fellow man's heart,spirit and very existence. (The protests though at times seem a bit off the mark. Solutions are needed here...not more fighting.)

   With a higher sense of purpose and above all praise- show the politician, the people, the masses through prose, poetry and pictures like the old masters did; a beauty they may not comprehend.

   It is the heart of the poet that must convey the absolute essential worth of nature. The words must move one from an insincere security to a beautiful truth.

   All one has to do when confronted with beauty is acknowledge with gratitude how restorative to one's soul a mighty oak, a sunset, a Monarch, a tiny frog, a Preying Mantis, a deep lake, a rushing river, a Grizzly Bear, a welcoming wind...truly is.

   Enjoy this day. It is yours as it always has been, to freely do and make of it what you will. I do request with an earnest plea-

Deeply consider the beauty and begin again and again and again...to preserve it.

Thank you,

Mother




(T.L Starks 09/01/2008)

Love, Mom

my dear children
you are
the light
always the lightest light
I have ever known
for you I'm me and all for you
I'd give you the world if I could
manage some how still
to see you humble
but I am one of one
and cannot get by
with allowing to much crap
from you folks
you're capable for sure
to be appropriate
and pick up those messes
you often leave me with
tired of it for sure
but still, the light of my life
you are
my dear children


What the hell just happened?! The above verse says it all, but still I'll try to explain if it seems all too opaque.
This farm, our home-does not run on fairy dust. And there is no wizard that I know of who pays my bills.
I ask for respect because I expect it mostly from you, as I give it to your properties and your room to grow, excusing many little battles .
I am tolerant, too tolerant and it serves no purpose other than letting you off on another day of getting by without getting it done.
This may seem harsh to your youth, a freedom time-but my youth found me a farm, and family, and offspring that I feel need to buck up and take on some responsibility that has always been yours to begin with.
There it is-the work of your day, a little offering, a contribution to a family who needs one another at their best though often sees each other at their worst-and bridges the gap between right and wrong with love for one another.
So, my sweet babies-time to inch forward a bit and help out around here.
Or else.
Or else we'll all be miserable, and we need each other, really.
I am the wise one, sometimes...the one who often has to stand up to you, for you so that you may yourself one day rise to any occasion. Tough stuff here, being hard-but softball with you guys right now will only propell you backwards-and while I still kick and breathe as your mom, I will affirm to be firm on this issue of responsibility and respect.
Love, Mom