Freedom by the Rules

Veterans Freedom Park, Westborough Conservation Land, Massachusetts

Over here, imbued with delight,
  the colors and patterns weave through, meet each other in wind swirls.

Homey aliens on these grounds,
  the result of persistent farming by the colonists who decimated indigenous woodlands.
 
Hence the meadows,
   a whole host of life, flourish in their own right.
     Except they cannot survive without human help,
       since the trees have always taken chances to return to their native parcels.

And so it goes, nature gets along with humans, sometimes... 

Allens Pond

Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

The amalgam of woods, swamps, meadows,
  and the rocky paths,
   edging the pond that breathes the Ocean's tidal motions.
 
Feels like home to flaps and jumps...
   
From rock to rock, over the brook, through the leafy hideouts,
  onto the blooming collage,   
    where each flower is just about where it should be... 

Golden

Crane Beach, Massachusetts
 
Seaside Goldenrod makes these sand-bound meadows radiate the sunshine...
      in steps with each flower and butterfly,
        while light wind ruffles golden quietude... 

Green Meadow

Mass Audubon Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts
 
 I sense the flutter of butterflies around scattered bouquets of flowers
    and see a Bobolink... must have arrived from far-lands not that much earlier...
 
  The meadow exhales green... inspires me to take a deep breath... 

... with Milkweeds...

Mass Audubon Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

I happen to know Milkweeds through the story of Monarch butterflies...
  For Monarchs, Milkweeds are partners in survival.
  They feed their young, and endow them with toxins that guard their lives.
 
We do not like to have Milkweeds around for fear of their toxins,
  and a misbelief that they will choke those plants we love...
     ... so their beauty passes... each season... with Monarchs being the only ones to notice...