Are You That Woman

The Same Sky

On a moonless night,
   A jeweled sky thick with constellations,
Crowns the eastern Sierra.
Peering into darkness
I wonder, "Is this the same sky?"

Clouds of gray and white,
    Shadow and light,
Like atomic plumes flung skyward,
Kiss the blue and drape the peaks, 
And still I ask, "Is this the same sky?"

A blazing morning sun drenches 
    Scented sage and pine.
A still, azure plain stretches flat and clear
Above Inyo Mountains and high desert valleys.
In my eyes, "Is this still the same sky?"

Can anyone say:
    Before the Spanish missionaries;
    Before the buffalo and grizzly bears;
    Before the rush to riches and water wars;
    Before Muir and Adams;
    Before asphalt ribbons and all-terrain...
"Is this the same sky?"

Barbara L. Steinberg
Tom’s Place, CA 
July 27, 2003

I'm a big girl now

At the crack of dawn, an odyssey,
Along sleepy city streets,
My small town heart rejoices,
At my big girl retreat.
The antique trolley,
Clangs to a stop.
And I scramble aboard,
With a jump! Skip! Hop!
One would never imagine,
In my life at this time,
Such a routine experience,
Could be so sublime.
And the joy of a ferry,
That whisks me away,
From my big girl adventure,
In the city by the Bay.

Barbara L. Steinberg
San Francisco 
January 23, 2006

Back in time memory

The  sun is rising over Fall River Mills. 

The light has a different glow; a warmer cast in this remote and removed corner of northern California.  The distance isn’t great, but in today’s world it feels far, faraway.  One can only imagine life here at a time when country lanes and urban streets were bustling with activities of life. Commerce from local mills, farming, and fishing,

Abundant winter rains and snows have cold rivers rushing as in days of old.

 

August 2011 – Fall River Mills