Are We Poem by Fred Odom

Sails billowed on the tall ship's double masts
Propelling the schooner out from the harbor's mouth at sunset-
Its filled canvases, a reflected glowing palette
Of sunset sky's explosive reds and pinks and yellows and oranges.
Its masts, artist's brushes against the sky
Are we.

Volcanic plumes of satin white clouds backdropped two trees
Standing on the hill's crest together in unison,
Reveling in the cityscape below
Outlined by ocean's silvered coast.
And despite years and dramas below lived out,
The tempering winds of change, and season's bite and claw
Serve only to make the landscape more interesting and beautiful,
Are we.

Beneath the cotton clouded sky at noon's backdropped blue
Oars dip and pull, dip and pull
Sculling over azure placid water
In a seemingly effortless surface skim.
The lake's face mirroring clouds' reflection
Protecting gliding fish beneath in their own path, oblivious
To the silent action above and protected from detection
With only the merest rippling to hint of their own path
Secure from
The dip and pull the dip and pull.
The sun crawls overhead to horizon's rest
The afternoon offshore breeze awakens and
Confronts head on the scull's gliding progress
Challenging the oarsmen's cadenced deliberant and persistent
Pull and glide…pull and glide…
As into the open waters the scull is rocked and
Bow and stern alike take water on
Yet in unisoned effort the vessel is propelled to
Safe harbor's destination
Are we.

Redwoods tower above the gladed forest floor
Reaching up to the retreating morning fog's dissipating cloud.
The two stand together against the weathering forces
Clearing fires sweep the floor of incidental brush
Which scar but serve to show
The sustaining strength within, between
United in their stand together
In perseverance and growth …sheltering, holding up,
And supporting each against the trials of nature
We find in love, in nature, in nurture, our future together
Are we.