The Homecoming
1
Restraint
As the car pulls up
the pup goes prancing to the door
to greet my grandkids.
Though I stay put, I too feel like
yapping and rolling on the floor.
2
Anticipation
I hear the dog greet
my grandchildren in the drive.
Shortly, they’ll enter
my study with jostle and shove
and paw at me for scraps of love.
Andrew Lansdown
Canada Geese Near Canada
1
A spearhead of geese,
fixed on the shaft of instinct,
and hurled by autumn—
how swiftly and straight it flies
south in the threatening skies!
2
Again, skeins of geese
cross the Wisconsin border,
wearing the sky’s fleece.
And whose heart doesn’t shiver
for want of a warmer winter?
3
If not for one thing
I’d follow those geese across
the United States …
their farthest south is far north
of where my beloved waits.
4
The Canada geese
have begun their migration.
Will it ever cease?
I gaze at their formation
with ache and resignation.
Andrew Lansdown
Windbell
1
Inexpressible—
the beauty of the windbell’s
dangle and dingle.
2
Ethereal—
the sound leaving the windbell’s
material.
3
Even in the lull—
the windbell’s paper streamer
swinging a little.
Andrew Lansdown