Noll: Listen to the Seasons for the Secrets of Life

"Emmanuel" (God with Us)

There’s a whisper
On her lips:
“Emmanuel.”

Even as the darkened silhouettes
Of trees - their limbs, branches laid bare -
reaching up towards Unseen arms,
Return empty.

She comforts the trees
and self with
“Emmanuel.”

When snow cradles the lifeless
Limbs and blankets the world,
In memory of leaf, flower and fruit
She breathes:
“Emmanuel.”

And He appears;

In spirit and frosty form
Through the whisper
Escaping from her soul.
Kareen 11/2008

Noll on "The Importance of Dirt"

My Own relishes the vegetable and flower gardens in their full prime. I find them rather annoying. Give me unobstructed dirt! Freshly tilled or harvested bare, the vegetable garden in particular beckons me like a siren singing on the high seas. Know this: I bolt to the garden whenever I am permitted outside.

In fall and spring, the fragrant dirt lays bare to my special indulgence. There is nothing quite so enthralling as a good roll in the dirt; rubbing, blanketing my face and whiskers with its smell. Sweet earth!

After a long winter entombment in snow, dirt proves more intoxicating than catnip. In spring, My Own, bowled over by cabin fever, cannot wait to disturb the soil. It is a happy ritual for us both.

But for now, autumn is at the door and I must make as many dirt memories as possible. Winter is traveling swiftly towards us and, once it arrives, time will crawl. In winter, we will all but forget the forever-promise of spring; of Persephone waiting in the wing of the Netherworld. But when the earth melts and Persephone purls upward, I will be the first one out the door!