Praise Song

This little poem or song of praise was written way back in 1972, when I was 18 years old. There was a large open space of hard ground of at least a couple of acres behind our apartments, where we used to play cricket and hockey. Occasionally we used to practice for athletic events, like throwing the discus or hurling the shot-put. Not that I was good in athletics, but my friends were.

Playing cricket on that playground was fun. Sometimes we hit the ball so hard that it raced down towards the dirty stream that flowed beyond the ground on one side. On the other side was an old tiled bungalow. By the side of this bungalow someone had planted flowers and had forgotten about them. So, along with the flowers, grew some wild plants and weeds too. It was here that I noticed the white fuzzy dandelion balls that flew around when the wind blew. They were full of little wispy seeds that flew like helicopters.

Summer in our part of the world is full of heat and sunshine. The skies are usually blue, and sometimes we would lie upon a cot in the shade or on the grass and watch the clouds go floating by. Usually the clouds were piled up in huge puffy masses of 'cotton wool'. But on rare occasions we saw little white clouds like ‘foamy horses’ racing by.

I can’t remember the background for the last stanza of the poem. I think I was trying to describe the feeling of ecstasy, and the verbs and the adjectives make that clear. Perhaps it was the birds rejoicing in the wind.

Anyway, it is a happy poem, a beautiful little praise song, and may you be blessed by reading it!

~Pratonix

In Praise of God's Good Earth

Hoosh, whoosh,
The wind is up,
The birds go whizzing by,
And all around
Upon the ground
The dandelions fly.

I cannot see a speck of grey
I cannot see the sun,
But only one vast stretch of blue
Where foamy horses run.

I cannot see for ecstasy
In one huge throbbing thrill
Has burst into a wave of wings
And dances in the hills.

©Tan Pratonix