07/09/20

The morning, mist slumping from the fields, greets me

With a dazzling smile, Autumn sunshine in the soft air

Squirrels, tails punctuating the roofline, gather food

Where the eaves and gutters are waiting for leaves

And, up in the Museum tree, two jacks chat to a spotted cat

Waiting, hopefully, beneath. Eyes watching me

 

Along the lane, among the white nettle, ivy and old apple trees

I spot a chiff-chaff checking along branches or maybe it’s a willow warbler

Sage and yellow against the fresh, grassy snort of nearby horses

At the stile, the hazel branches form a perfect picture frame 

For the Tor, wearing a wide brimmed blue-sky hat

And a green skirt sprigged with people and sheep

 

Returning past the meadows, a lone swan glides

Schooner skimming the green seas low along the river line

A feathered arrow from an angel’s bow

Blackberry, elderberry, crab apple, chestnut, conkers

The colour of Autumn spilling from the trees

All festoon the path home in celebration of a passing summer

 

Feel the year slow, the fierce summer sun soften

The promise of Spring setting into ripe Autumn fruit

The harvest home, the seed set, the hard work won

A smile, a chat, a wide brimmed hat

And an early Autumn morning

 

Incandescence (Twelve Poems)

I have curated twelve poems from the last three years into a Microsoft Sway presentation, so it can be read on a device or phone. The poems are split onto four seasons to echo either their subject matter or when they were written. The first two, Nowadays and The String bag were written during this period of lockdown.

Incandescence

Twelve Poems

Go to this Sway

Frosty Yule

Underfoot the path is icy

Still slick with the morning frost

I can feel my feet slip

Just enough to make me falter

Uncertain, I look around

For safer ground

To find the grass is singing

Ablaze with early silver sunshine

Festooned with ice crystals

All shining brightly in the light

And overhead in a blue sky

Choirs of cloud angels fly

Soon the year turns

A slow alchemy

Changing

Like the frost to mist

In the sunlight

Now

I have paused long enough

For the cold air to bite through my coat

Trees drip with melt water

But the Yule light has filled my heart

And the ice is vapour in the air
The path ahead is there


Adding a couple more bits and pieces here which were part of 'Windchimes' last year but somehow never posted.  (14/04/18)

The Thorn on the Hill

Silver running

And cobalt blue

St Catherine

St Julian

And St Joan

All the thrones

Turning the sky

My thirsty soul

Turns to the view

And drinks deep

Rinsed in light

Silver running

And cobalt blue

This rock

This throne

This sky

This stone

St Catherine

St Julian

And St Joan

This land

Bathed in light
Love calls home

Angel

Fall into my arms and sing

Voice as soft as angels wings

We will find a way to bring

Love into the world

Blue Hill Town

Above the blue hill town

Swifts weave a May Queen's crown

Around the old tower

Dancing in the wide sky

They turn and quarter, flying high

With ribbons of summer

And on the moor below

A golden cloak of buttercups glow

Around the blue hill town

The air is full of summer's heat

And the river still spring water sweet

Maybe our pilgrim paths will meet

(And we will dance like kings and queens)

Like ribbons of summer

Woven through

The blue hill town

[notes: -bury, suffix ~ from old english 'burh' (a fortified place), ton (Dun hillfort) ~ old english enclosure, manor , glas ~ Cornish for blue , Glastonbury Tor is composed of blue lias stone and clays]

A couple of old poems for a summery weekend...

Where Lady Summer Dwells

(A Dorset walk)

Where the ragged robin grows
And cow parsley sows
A garland of wild garlic
In the hedgerow
Down the green lane
Runs a silver stream
And in the clear wide sky
Ride dragonflies

Here’s a place I know well
It’s where lady summer dwells

Life is for living
And hearts are for giving
It’s a sweet song she sings
While she walks
Down the green lane

Old Bumble

I remember
The days
When you could fly
From wood to lea
Hedgerow
All the way

No fencing
No block paving
No endless acreage
Ploughed edge to edge
But room to dawdle
Among the foxgloves
And sunny honeysuckle...

Ah, by my furry knees
Times long gone
Lunch was at the Dog Rose
With warm lavender till tea
Then home
While long shadows overtook
The neat lawns
Cut too short for clover now

Home to snooze
A honeyed dream
Of summer days
With hedgerow
All the way