The spirit of Christmas descends with a whisper

Unnoticed by shoppers and revellers

To sprinkle a little of its magic dust

Which settles into the spaces left between

Food piled in kitchens; parcels tucked under trees

Deflated decorations; precious hopes and dreams

On Christmas Eve children in pyjamas, wait longingly

Peering through bedroom windows

Hoping to glimpse Sa...

Read and leave comments (5)

The Midwinter Solstice

Meets with the year

At its darkest

When ready to turn 

Towards the light

Dawn rises, bringing

Colours with the promise of summer

Luscious scarlet strawberries

Plump purple blackberries

Coated with snow white cream

Drizzled with burnished honey

In the dark days of winter

Beside the warm hearth

The air fills with memories

Sta...

Read and leave comments (3)

Midwinter Mistletoe

Pollinated by the generous Mistle Thrush

A seed germinating in the bark, waits a year long

For pale green, tender young shoots to appear

Forceful evergreen twigs, with fleshy stems

Weave a dense, tangled, peridot sphere

Vigorous leaves decorated with berries

As fine as waxy white pearls

Branches onc...

Read and leave comments (1)

The Woods in Midwinter

December, the darkest of winter months

Cold air bites, as the Midwinter Solstice approaches

From the North, a wild Arctic wind, howls through the trees

Their skeletal limbs now made bare, of any late, lingering leaves

Shaking to the ground; twigs, acorns and fragile nests

The night sky is clear, lighting a path through the woods

Stars shine down, th...

Read and leave comments (2)

The winter day dawns cold, dark and wet

A low mist blankets the fields

There is little to tempt the sleepy

From their snug beds

Into this unwelcoming, inclement world

Around the house stalks an angry wind

Which roars and howls as it journeys

Ripping, raging and pounding

Mournfully sighing; while an insistent

Rain lashes wildly, at window panes

Beating against ca...

Read and leave comments (4)

The Wise Oak

A tender acorn

Embedded into the ground

To grow through the years

The young sturdy oak

Giver of shelter, life, air

A refuge and home

Crowning the forest

Most knowing of the ancients

I celebrate you

Read and leave comments (0)

Each shower of autumn leaves

cast softly down

Is a memory of the warmth

left behind

By a forgotten summer day

Read and leave comments (2)

Within the attics of an old tower

Built of ancient bricks

Coated in strands of fibrous ivy

Set deep within the forest

Away from the eyes of mankind

Is a room of the palest marble

Where a young woman

Dressed in a green velvet gown

Sits close to a window and sighs

The room is lined with fragile books,

Silken fabrics and precious memories

Many years have passed b...

Read and leave comments (2)

Shift

There is a time

When the air comes alive

Filled with a charge, an energy

A startling newness

It is this that electrifies

And drives us forwards

To make progress, to grow again

Then we know that the time has come

For change and to move on

Read and leave comments (0)

Haunted by Passchendaele

In France, at the height of the horror

He had taken two days to climb out of a shell-hole

Leaving his former self, lying in the mud

To return home a mere shadow

Wearing his clothes as a costume

As he masqueraded through what remained of his life

On the 11th November I always remember my Great Uncle Frederick, who died on the battlefield in 1916, my Gre...

Read and leave comments (4)

Deep in the forest

Silent of traffic, hidden from life

Where the light is soft and misty

The ground thick with layers of the past

Cobwebs, jewelled with dew, glisten

Caught in the early morning sunlight

Creatures move slowly through the undergrowth

All part of an ever-changing world

Groups of ancient trees, stand tall, stately

Their bark, thickly coated with m...

Read and leave comments (0)

All Hallows’ Eve

On All Hallows’ Eve

When the bewitching hour falls

And darkness descends

From out of the shadows

Something slowly stirs

The slightest movement, flicker, twitch

Seen from the corner of your eye

Shapes emerging, cloaked in mystery

Gliding along ancient pathways

Gaunt, swaying spectres

Shrouded in mist

Carrying their stories and sadness

The...

Read and leave comments (1)

Ascending

Following a time of quiet

Sweet music was heard

Filling the air

So that once heavy hearts

Were lifted again

Ready to rise up, leaving

The old world behind

Turning away from the past

Sailing through the air

Meeting the moon and the stars

To then become part of a new world

For completion

Read and leave comments (1)

September carries with it

The last hopes of summer

Sharing out its meagre heat

Allowing colourful blooms

A final late flowering

Then, when it can continue no more

A chill descends, lamps are lit early

Fires glow in the hearth

And we retreat indoors once more

Peering out, missing summer days, when

Soft fragrant blossoms cheered us

Fruit grew plump on the stem or vin...

Read and leave comments (0)

As evening draws its curtain across the sky

Darkness settles softly upon the streets

When all has grown quiet

A lone figure travels abroad

Fear; the most unwelcome of companions

Follows closely behind women

As they journey alone

While hastening towards home

To safety, security and comfort

They must remain ever mindful and alert

Listening, attentive, watchful

For s...

Read and leave comments (2)

After the Rain

The autumn air is filled with dampness

In the woods, the ground is wet underfoot

Leaves hang low with the weight of raindrops, from

Bedraggled branches, shaken by the overnight storm

Dew drops, drip slowly from each leaf

Hedgerows wear a lattice of tangled vines

Twigs lie broken, scattered upon the ground

Ditches burst forth with cloudy brackish wa...

Read and leave comments (0)

The Box of Letters

Pale blue airmail letters

Fragile, folded

Ink now faded

Written in a child's hand

Messages of love

Sent across the seas

To a father

Many miles away

Missed every day

Longed for at Home

Sadly, now on that final voyage

Still loved, still missed

Read and leave comments (0)

Floating Leaf Haiku

A lone leaf floats down

Spiralling as it descends

Gliding onto earth

Read and leave comments (0)

Wilderness

My beginnings are frantic and fraught

Ideas wild, untamed, unexplored

Fretted over, juggled and wrestled with

Battles with words, structure, themes

Wrangled, squeezed, changed

Trampled, shaped, honed

Polished, preened and shuffled

Finally caught and found right

From the wilderness finally emerges

Something which pleases

Read and leave comments (0)

Grey

So many days, grey

Unimaginative, dull

Days that lack point

Days devoid of inspiration

Until looking up

I see the sky

Filled with so many shades of grey

But beyond their dullness

I see the sun

Lifting the grey

Turning it to silver

Making it quite beautiful!

Read and leave comments (0)

A curl of paper

Placed on our scrubbed pine table

A hurriedly assembled

List of necessities

For comfort

And some structure

On days when I am lost

Drifting, unanchored

Thread to sew on a button

Polish, for appearance sake

(Can't show how I'm feeling)

A Sunday lunch

Of chicken, salad

Apple crumble

Trying to hold my life together

When each day it's

Fall...

Read and leave comments (3)

From the Silence

In the pale darkness of a summer night

When all is quiet around me

In the silence, I begin to hear

And to know where I belong

Read and leave comments (1)

The harbour here is timeless

Built out of grey rock

Solid beneath my feet

I can be at peace, quite contented

Listening to the sounds of the shore

The air above me filled with gulls

Together they circle, swoop

Dive down for scraps of fish

Then fly upwards to the clouds

My usual world so far away now

Stress slowly melting, to be left far behind

I feel free, my...

Read and leave comments (0)

Summer is…

An early morning sunrise

Pale light creeping in

Through net-covered windows

Quiet stillness at the start of the day

Blossoms, nodding on fragile stems

Golden corn swaying in a light breeze

Children's laughter as they play on the green

Bees and butterflies

Days which stretch out endlessly

A time when storm clouds gather

When the air fills with forebo...

Read and leave comments (1)

A summer breeze sighs

Releasing sultry mid-day heat

Smells linger on in warm air

Mild currents gently move low branches

Which reach down and slowly wind the air

Dry leaves tumble

To scatter in drifts below

On a parched ground

Flowers swelter in their neat dry beds

To then wilt and buckle on weary stems

As the day lengthens

The weight of the heat

Grows lang...

Read and leave comments (0)

A thing of neat hidden beauty

Tucked snugly down in the hedgerow

Rich lime green foliage, brushing against the verge

Shading delicate plump fruits

Scattered like drops of ruby tears

Hanging softly in a cascade

A chandelier of bright trefoil leaves

Exquisitely contrasting with the rosy strawberries

Sweetest of summer fruits

Which melt slowly on the tongue

Read and leave comments (6)

When life is difficult

                               Look inside yourself

For the answer to your question

                               You know more than you could possibly imagine

Read and leave comments (0)

Even when no one is listening

The birds will sing

Raise their wings

Beat them noisily

Against the air

Rise up and fly

And so, might we

Continue to sing

Continue to fly

Even when no one is listening

Read and leave comments (0)

Twenty six years gone

Twenty six years missed

Memories endure

As does the ghost of your love

I feel it like a shawl

Draped around my shoulders

Keeping me warm and safe for eternity

Read and leave comments (0)

A damselfly descends onto my book

Her wings open and shiver

She rises, to then hover majestically

Colours of iridescent green and aquamarine

Shimmer brightly in the sunshine

Moving softly, delicately, as an eyelash

Might briefly curtain an eye

Her wings casting shadows below

Fleetingly she remains nearby

For a moment of shared intimacy

To then pass swiftly and gently ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Boats on the Stour

Set in the afternoon light

A high tide

Its reflections deep

And of pale azure blue

Infused with peach-blossom pink

Gifted by an early sunset

All around is still

The air heavy

A moment in time, Paused

Now become a memory

Read and leave comments (2)

The body

Is made of curves

But…

It has corners

Tucked inside each one

Sits…

A sorrow

Fresh, old, unresolved

Each one weighing

The bearer down

Each one

A burden

Help…

Lift sadness and sorrow

By listening

Read and leave comments (0)

Waiting in sadness
Wearing a shawl of loss
Wakeful in the dark night
Quietly being, listening

In the still silence
Ungrounded, floating
Part of the world
Dwarfed by its enormity
Lost...
 

Read and leave comments (1)

White wooden casements thrown wide

Let in freshened morning air

The slightest of breezes, softly

Moving light summer curtains

Creating a pattern of shifting shadows

Across pale oak, wooden floorboards

Carrying in the fragrant smell of dew

And the delicate, aromatic white star jasmine

Its exotic heady perfume filling the room

With the creamy warmth of sweet vanilla

The...

Read and leave comments (0)

Strewn across the shady woodland

A sea of silver-white anemones

Each pale flower tucked within a snug nest

Set against sap green, musk scented leaves

Standing proud, above rosette-fashioned foliage

Gently tilting its star-like, thimbleweed head

At each sunrise growing brighter, as soft light

Penetrates delicate, diaphanous petals

Which tremble, twinkle, sparkle and shine

Read and leave comments (1)

On the day of the April Pink full moon

Named for the moss pink flower

As the night lengthens

The moon’s glow will grow stronger

The sky will fill with brightness

Drenching the earth with light

Heralding the coming of spring

Moving the seasons onwards

Harmonising the earth

With the phases of the moon

Read and leave comments (2)

April arrives bearing the coldest of winds

Cutting a cruel swathe across the land

Leaving early morning trails of

Frosted silver filigree

Bruising blossoms and buds

Which newly opened, tremble

Along the branch

Life begins, tender, frail, new

April, the month for growth

Named from the Latin, aperire

Charged with opening the season

Sacred to the Goddess Venus

Read and leave comments (1)

On a side table

Where the sun pauses

During each afternoon

I will place a bowl of roses

In remembrance of you

Their petals as soft

As the dew in the morning

When first it kisses the day

As each petal lightly falls

Brushing against the

Warmed wood

I will feel the pulse of your life

And think of you with love

Read and leave comments (1)

You come unbidden into my life

An unwanted house-guest

Arriving without invitation

Silent tears, now so often just a breath away

Creeping in, unseen from beyond the darkness

Wrapping my shoulders with hollow grief

Inhabiting the edges of my days

Nurturing melancholy, the friend of tears

An unwelcome companion, who remains too long

Stirred by some imprint, ...

Read and leave comments (1)

one day, nature became Angry

the earth Cracked and Spewed out Larva

the seas Raged and Roared

the clouds Blew away

it was a time so Awful

that time itself Stopped….

wind-driven Dandelion seeds, white fluffy parachutes

carried through the air on a fresh fragrant Breeze

seed florets planted to become delicate dandelion Clocks

each one set into Fertile ground

e...

Read and leave comments (1)

Twilight skies - infused with the palest rose
Edge the horizon
Where soft white clouds - stained clotted cream
Rest on a collar of flax flower blue

Evening slowly draws in - quietened air grows still
Birds ascend to roost
Where small blossoms close against the day
Darkness descends - to draw a curtain across what has been

 

Read and leave comments (0)

When the darkest days of winter

Draw grudgingly to a close

When snows and frosts disperse

Warmth spreads slowly through the earth

Woodlands and hedgerows awaken

From the deepest of slumbers

Beneath a heavy cloak of

Decaying late autumn leaves

New life begins to stir

Seeds move in the now fertile soil

Dark brown wrinkled foliage

Turns away from the sun

...

Read and leave comments (1)

The Hollow Wind

at 3am

winter streets

are dark

empty, silent

but for

the hollow wind

which blows, howling

carving out

a tunnel, with

its breath

to carry

the bitter

snow chilled

air

on its journey

Read and leave comments (0)

February Snow

In the harsh halo of a street light

Snow

glows dandelion yellow

Flakes dance in its beam

While streets wait

under a quilt of quiet white

The heavy snow plough glides

Its wheels

singing as they turn

Flicking up a spray

of fine drops

The world is slow to wake

Windows and doors stiff

With damp and the burden

of a bolster o...

Read and leave comments (3)