On my Morning Walk, I think of Mr. Emerson

        I don’t care what I see outside. My vision is within!
        Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the sky is blue!
                — E.M. Forster

I wish it were so with me,
but I do need A Room with a View
and also a walk on the beach,
where terns and all manner
of gulls swarm and squawk,
where pelicans fly in
to dive for breakfast,
and herons patiently wait.

If grace walks with me,
I might spot a dolphin or two,
or a shark surfacing for a moment,
and the purse of my heart
will widen with wonder enough
to hold fast another day.

*

Donna Hilbert’s latest book is Enormous Blue Umbrella, Moon Tide Press, 2025. Work has appeared in journals and broadcasts including Eclectica, Gyroscope, Rattle, Sheila Na Gig, ONE ART, Cholla Needles, TSPoetry, VerseDaily, Vox Populi, The Writer’s Almanac, anthologies including Boomer Girls, The Widows’ Handbook, The Poetry of Presence I & II, The Path to Kindness, The Wonder of Small Things, Love Is For All Of Us, What the House Knows, Poetry Goes The Movies. She writes and leads workshops from her home base in Long Beach, California.