Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

the clouds retreat,
 revealing hilltop ruins:
  a ghost in stone.

hill slope trees
 like staggering figures:
  soon swallowed in fog.

the butterfly
 knows no upside-down, only
  where the flowers are.

the magpie walks
 with head hung low,
  fooling no one.

after many days 
 of dreary clouds & rain:
  blue skies!

in summer sun,
 some evergreens look frosted,
  as if snow-laden.

beyond the lone pine;
 there is only blank slate
  and vast potential.

dogs have gathered
 in military formation;
  humans are nervous.

clouds cross the mountain
 only to dissipate: 
  drifting to nothing.

foggy mountain:
 pine rows become more ghostly,
  then vanish entirely.