ANCIENT WORDS

reading ancient words
stones in a field
left by glaciers
EO

pensamiento*
flor de memoria
mi abuela

pansy
flower of memory
my grandma
ME

silent grace
with friends
magnolias
EO

wishing well
my penny
in sunlight
ME

letting go
daffodils bloom
in the compost pile
EO

camino al monte
un sueño
de paz

mountain road
a dream
of peace
ME

*The Spanish name for “pansy,”  which also means “thought.”

“Ancient Words” was published first in Time of Singing (Spring 2010), which is edited by Lora H. Zill.  Contributing Editors for this issue:  Darlene Moore Berg and H. Edgar Hix.

* * *

Margarita’s biography (July 17, 2010):

Margarita Engle is a botanist and the Cuban-American author of young adult novels in verse, most recently The Firefly Letters.

The Surrender Tree received a Newbery Honor, the Pura Belpré Medal, Jane Addams Award, Américas Award, Claudia Lewis Award, and Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor. The Poet Slave of Cuba received the Pura Belpré Medal, Américas Award, and an International Reading Association Award. Tropical Secrets received the Sydney Taylor Award, Paterson Prize, and an Américas Award Commendation. Engle’s next novel in verse is Hurricane Dancers, the First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck, forthcoming from Henry Holt in March, 2011.

Chapbooks include Word Wings (Elin Grace Publishing).

Engle’s first Henry Holt picture book is Summer Birds, the Butterflies of Maria Merian.

Margarita lives in northern California, where she enjoys hiking and helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search and rescue dog training programs. Her next picture book is about search and rescue dogs.

Here are some of the daffodils from the compost pile.
Photo by Karl.