beauty

Steam

the steam from a mug of tea
caught a cool draft
through the open window
and danced an ethereal dance
in the morning light

beautiful, broken
none of us are complete works -
          that is life's beauty

Barren Beauty

hungry branches
stripped of leaves
reach their fingers
to the empty gray skies
along the silent roadways of winter,

there is a barren beauty
in their snow-covered limbs,
the reassurance they provide:
there are still four seasons -
we haven't yet
wiped them from the Earth -

it is stark
it is beautiful
there is peace
it is home