As All Nature Toils Together: poem by Royal Rhodes

sparrow and birdfeeder, image by Ralph, on Pixabay, modified

As All Nature Toils Together

No one finds it strange the way I do

to see the fields stripped clear of heavy stalks.

My labored breathing tightens on my walks

as daylight blinks and fades and then goes out,

while the wind's a whistle as it talks

and gray replaces skies that once looked blue.

The world outside my garden toils and grinds

itself to waste, but birds drawn here recall

the summer's generosity and all

the miracle of seed that reappears

and bids the feeder fill them and then fall

for deer and other creatures of all kinds.

The cat inside has watched these beating wings

and hopes the backyard's colony of birds—

like loving someone who ignores your words

of love—will stay when he patrols the lawn,

seeking something tasty to devour—

a plaything even while in dying sings.

I see this truth: the passing year is sign

and grace, to lay me down and then awake,

and soon a V of geese arise and make

this symbol in the sky as they head south.

When seeing them I feel my heart will break.

Love these, and not the love you can define.

_____________________________

Royal Rhodes taught the history of Christianity

from New Testament times to the present for

almost forty years. His poems have appeared

in Spirit Fire Review, Clayjar, Ekstasis Poetry,

Heart of Flesh, and The Montreal Review. He

lives in retirement in a small village where he

was chosen Citizen of the Year on July 4th.

September 2025 issue