A Beautiful Little Flyer – A Riddle

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We’re rarely noticed, but still, we’re there

silently, still beautiful, we roam the air.

We have room on your thumbnail we land

or we can be almost as big as a hand.

**

We exist in every country, all over the globe

and still, even if scientists did plenty to probe

humankind still doesn’t know us too well

that’s why I’m here for a few facts to tell.

**

Our babies are tiny and live often in water

up to three years where they eat and grow, and slaughter.

They go through transformation before they turn us

some kind of flyer, beautiful, exotic with a plus.

**

We come in all colors, big, medium, and small

with wide wings, and thin once, short, fat, or tall.

Some scientists have proven, we are about 7,000 sorts

others think, they’re about 2,000 shorts.

**

With 28,000 eyes, we can see 360 degrees

We can fly in sunshine, in rain, but not in its freeze.

We have double wings, which can make us last

up in the air – and up to 35 mph fast.

**

We have six legs and none of us is the same

other flyers compared to us, are kind of lame

We’re carnivores, believe it, in our kingdom we’re high!

I think you have guessed it – I am a dragonfly.

*****

(Copyright Aurora Jean Alexander, February 2021)

Picture courtesy of Pinterest.com

 

Not Allowed To Love

Sometimes life has things for us in hiding

surprises we are not allowed to see

and all of a sudden, the veil is lifted

and our surprise is here for us, and free.

**

Have you ever met another person

someone you talk and know, here I am home?

The better you know, the more you talk

the further your thoughts and hopes will roam.

**

You know that feeling, it is mutual

you know the other feels the same

and still, maybe the times has not been right yet

and not too long, you only memorize the name.

**

But then, all of a sudden, unexpected

the person walks right back into your life.

Energetic, strong, and here’s that connection

that threatens to become rife.

**

You talk for hours, holding on and knowing

the other person walks into your heart.

The conversations become more personal

careful still but playing an important part.

**

It stays like this, you wait for more,

progress is made, the sun starts to shine

A step forward, smiles, jokes, and laughter

and you know, your emotions are  to align

**

Then, unexpected, without a warning,

The common bond, it breaks apart

confused you try to understand it

but then, the other simply breaks your heart.

**

And here, once more, you’re sitting lonely

and asking yourself what joke was I the victim of?

How can this happen, I’m not delusional

But maybe I’m just not allowed to love…

*****

(Copyright, Aurora Jean Alexander, January 2021)

Picture Courtesy of: https://torontosun.com/

A Winter Tale

December time is winter time, we’re waiting for the show

that white flakes offer when they softly glide down to build snow.

In certain parts on this globe, snow is never seen

For the past two Decembers now, that’s exactly where I’ve been.

**

White Christmas, as described in this one song

is not common in Southern California all along.

I still put up my Christmas tree and will enjoy the time

will live the present, forget the past and listen to the chime.

**

There are moments I admit, I miss the sparkling cold

the flakes, the ice flowers, and that in the sunshine it looks like gold.

I miss the snow angels, the snowball battles and all the fun

snow walks that are romantic, along the lake in the winter sun.

**

But to enjoy the romance back in my life and the love that makes it start

that one man should understand he’s missed and he is in my heart.

Winter time and Christmas time, we’re busier than ever, as it seems

but also, it’s a reflective time, with lots of room for hope and dreams.

**

Enjoy December, that month, the last in the old year

Prepare for new things, for a new start that is quite near.

Open your heart and welcome the good that’s sent from above

be it hope, be it smiles, be it luck or even love.

*****

(Copyright Aurora Jean Alexander, December 2020)

Picture courtesy of Pinterest.com

A Halloween Poem – Written By Mark Egan

Even though there is no Halloween Poem Contest anymore in 2020, I got sent a beautiful Halloween poem that I would like to share with you, with the permission of the author, Mark Egan.

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Picture courtesy of: http://preventioncdnndg.org/

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‘Don’t Go Outside’

                                                            Mark Egan 2020

‘Don’t go outside’, the girl she said

And said twice more, ‘lest we be dead’

She feared a sprite this Hallows Eve

With an endless hunger for souls to feed

To garner strength from lives ashriven

From the essence of the living

‘Don’t leave me here’, the girl she begged

‘Tis a darkling night, one full of dread

A spooky, creepy graysome night

I fear that I might die from fright

And then I’ll pass beyond the veil

Myself a spirit who’ll moan and wail’

‘Don’t make a sound’, the girl did whisper

I feel it’s close, my hearts a jitter

I hear it’s tread, it’s cloven gait

It’s funeral march, it’s wicked hate

It’s gaping maw, it’s jagged teeth

It’s claws and arms, stretched out in reach’

‘I think it’s here’, the girl did say

Her voice a ghost, yet quiet and fae

I smelled her breath sour and sweet

I felt her heart a fearsome beat

‘Don’t go outside’, she once more said

She laughed and lunged, then I was dead.

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(The copyright of this poem is with Mark Egan, please respect this poem as his property)

A Loyal Friend – A Riddle

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As a baby I’m so cute

I don’t come with a button that says ‘mute’.

I’ve got four legs, no wings, no beak

And when I’m a baby I still ‘leak’.

**

As most of us, we got a tail

We can whine and growl and also wail.

No matter how we look, we all are stark

We can roll over, give paws and also bark.

**

We can have mix or pure in our blood

We can be high class elite, or simply ‘mud’

We can be the size of a tree or a tiny sprig

or by all means, a pony, or a guinea pig.

**

When we’re little our owners are often dizzy

They’re on their toes, we keep them busy.

When we grow up, the stress will end

And we’ll become a ‘man’s best friend’.

**

We can protect, support, or we can ‘stop’

we work in avalanche, in narcotics or become a cop.

We’re your true jack-of-all-trades

Even though we never got grades.

**

Maybe you have one of us in your home

Let them sleep in your bed and freely roam.

I’m sure my secret’s not anymore ‘in the fog’

You already guessed – I am a dog!

*****

(Copyright Aurora Jean Alexander – October 2020)

Picture courtesy of Pinterest.com

Summer 2020

The sun burns hot, but there’s a breeze

in the yard I can hear the hum of the bees.

The ocean, it never is very far away

the sun is shining, here I want to stay.

**

Temperatures are hot, the air, it sings

We know already what the next day brings

more blue skies, more light and sun

Southern California is home and fun.

**

This summer things are different though

the danger is omnipresent, that we know.

But still, I need the sunshine and the air

I’ll go outside and I take care.

**

The sunsets still are so one-of-a-kind

I have a hard time to get them off my mind.

The colors, the clouds, and the palm trees

swaying in the summer breeze.

**

And even when the times are hard

when we are in crisis and hold up our guard

There’s still the beauty of nature to roam

outside our window, in our hearts, we call it home.

*****

(Copyright: Aurora Jean Alexander, July 2020)

Picture Courtesy of Google.com

 

A Small Hunting Friend – A Riddle

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I’m gorgeous, and I’m useful, colorful and small

even though my feet are short, I’m still good at brawl.

My main food is insects, small reptiles, mammals, and more

from carrion I keep away, I prefer a wider soar.

**

I’m unusually fast in moving, the wind carries me around

When I hunt, I’m very silent, but when I court, I make my sound.

I’m known to be quite talkative, my cry can be heard from far

to every student of ornithology, I’m a famous star.

**

We are migratory fowl, in fall we are moving South

we spend the winter in Central America where we live in routh.

Back home up north ’till Canada, we return to breed our young

we sing, we dance, and so we court, we all act as sprung.

**

We breed in caves, in old trees, and sometimes we use a nest

but to be honest, we don’t like to build, nestboxes are the best.

There we raise a couple youngsters, sometimes they’re also more

normal it is we have six babies, but rarely only four.

**

I mentioned we are useful to many farmers in the countryside

we hunt vermin, critters, insects on their ground from far and wide.

we protect the crop with what we eat and they love our call

That’s why they love us hunting there, even though we’re only small.

**

From Canada to Texas we are widely known and often seen

we’re not endangered, that is good, and we have never been.

I know it’s hard to guess my identity and that’s the game

That’s why I’ll tell you – American Kestrel – that’s my name.

*****

(Copyright: Aurora Jean Alexander, May 2020)

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Picture courtesy of: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-kestrel

 

A Trace Of Danger In The Mountains – A Riddle

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I am death on four paws

I have no smell and no race

My food is meat in the raws

I’m not betrayed by a trace.

**

I’m not in danger to go extinct

My color protects me in every case

I solely live on my own instinct

I have a territory, not a personal space.

**

I’m a silent lethal danger,

I’m always hidden and calm

I can’t be discovered by some stranger

when I approach you, say your last psalm.

**

My prey is often bigger than me

but I’m smart and I’m strong

Your size it can’t save you, you’d see

don’t believe to outrun me, you are dead wrong.

**

I do exist from Canada in the North

through the Americans all the way

in the Andes in the south and so forth

where I am I always find my prey.

**

I’m gorgeous and secret I sneak on silent sole,

respect me, I’m hidden and I don’t feel shame

I’m not by many names, but I’m no evil soul

Call me Moutain Lion, Puma or Cougar – and it is my name.

*****

(Copyright: Aurora Jean Alexander, February 2020)

Picture courtesy of ThePressDemocrat.com

 

Winter 2020

Gray it is, the sky above

what we need are scarf and glove.

Boots are a necessary thing

we can barely talk and sure not sing.

**

It’s wintertime, the world is white

a gush of wind feels like a bite.

Snow is falling, romantic to behold

but in truth it is heavy and cold.

**

Danger lies in the cold air

snow is wayward, that I swear.

cold and wet turns into ice

snow beauty comes with a high price.

**

Many people enjoy the glory in white

skiing, iceskating, snowboarding are right.

But carelessness turn into cries and moans

screams, tears and too often broken bones.

**

Avalanches, rockfalls, accidents and drives

every winter cost numerous lives.

Not many respect the white snow’s cold breath

as dangerous, uncontrollable death.

**

But if we’re careful and observe the line

we can read on the very next warning sign.

Then snow and winter, no matter what clime

can be to all of us, a wonderful time.

*****

(Copyright: Aurora Jean Alexander, December 2019)

Picture courtesy of: https://www.yourhealth.net.au/

A Strong F(r)iend – A Riddle

 

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I have four legs but I got no tail

I’m strong and square, not a bit frail.

I got huge, I mean, enormous paws

and no nails I got – no, I got claws!

**

Even though I walk on four

I can also stand on two – no more.

It’s always good for showing off

I look even worse, and hard and tough!

**

I’m a loner, no herd, no pack

I can sleep on my stomach and on my back

I’m a hunter, but still I’m omnivore

I can mutter, grummle, hum and roar.

**

There are many sorts of our kind

We all are dangerous, of the same mind.

We might look cuddly, that is said

but don’t trust us for a second, or you’ll be dead.

**

Science has proven, after lots of to probe

You can find us all over the round globe

From far South American to all up North

where I’m roaming back and forth.

**

We show up in different size

in many colors also quite disguise.

Brown and black, with spectacles and white hair

Yes, you’re right – I am the bear!

*****

(Copyright, Aurora Jean Alexander, December 2019)