On July 15, 2015

Vermont

by James Mee

It’s found in every season

a beauty beyond measure.

In the shadows of Green Mountains

we see its soulful pleasure.

Hers is the light of legend

shimmering on these lakes.

She glistens in December

while falling with snowflakes.

Her rivers share their swimming holes,

band concerts on the green,

stone fences visit hay fields

criss-crossed by farm machines.

Her valleys deep, pastures wide,

She’s what we know by heart.

And with these pillared mountains

it is eternal art.

The foliage of autumn,

her winters white and deep,

bring each coming spring to life,

rouse summer from its sleep.

What reasons make this place our home?

Whose seasons make us whole?

Whose beauty shaped in twilight’s hope

bring knowings to the soul?

Vermont.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

The great unfurling

June 18, 2025
We have just about come to the end of the great unfurling. That moment in time when the trees have grown and budded and leafed and have stretched as far as they can go. They are bigger, brighter, and fuller than they were last year, and you can feel the canopy thickening. The woods are…

Calling for a friend

June 18, 2025
We’ve all received those dreaded phone calls— the ones where the person’s voice on the other end suggests something dire is coming. The greatest example of this for me was the night I got the call that my father had died.  It happened during my senior year of college around 9 p.m. Upon returning from…

The dapper sparrow of the underbrush: Eastern towhee 

June 18, 2025
From forest edges and thickets on late spring mornings in the Northeast comes what sounds like an exhortation from across the pond: Drink your tea! This is not a British parent’s plea but rather the song of a chunky, colorful sparrow: the eastern towhee.  The eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus, or “red-eyed chipper”) is found in…

‘The Shrouds’ is another erotic techno-thriller from David Cronenberg 

June 18, 2025
Humans have difficulty dealing with death. Canadian auteur David Cronenberg is not immune to this affliction. His wife of nearly 40 years passed away in 2017. Cronenberg said on record that “The Shrouds” is one measure of his grieving process. We all handle grief differently. Maybe not quite as different as Cronenberg or his protagonist,…