In Sharp Contrast

 

It burst forth like a rapturous applause

to see the field by the river which had been

sprinkled with a saffron down

as buttercups claimed their righful ground

The month of May had arrived

to rejuvenate the landscape which had

lain dormant and bare

Trees once darkened silhouettes against

a grey heavily laden sky

now held a vista of verdant pastures

Along the opposite bank, out of reach,

a variety of shrubs and trees in new vesture

trees like the sprigs of dense broccoli

A distant field full of vibrant yellow

a sea of startling colour

spoke of rape seed grown for its precious oil

White clouds scudded across the sky

casting intermittent moments of welcomed shade

A herd of cows standing in a close knit group

ate the long grass with ravenous rapacity

 

Had this landscape been two months afore

I would have walked in a colourless land of

black and brown shades, a dowdy depressing place

where colours slept in hidden seeds

buried in the furrows and crevices of a silent soil

A biting wind blew its inhospitable gusts

of chilled warning and incipient anger

Ice would have formed on frozen pools of 

muddy water under the foreboding arched bridge

with no life in sight, no bird in flight

and no others about or even a solitary kite

 

I felt the warmth of the sun

A ladybird clung to a nearby leaf

as a magpie played at being the thief

Starlings and swallows flew across an early morning dew

a funereal land had come anew, fresh and vital and true

Seasons speak to us of life

a cyclical witness of our very being and strife

Spring is the rebirth of the world

Summer is prime time when love and nature 

flourish and propogate

Then the twilight of days signal closure

as the time withdraws and all do slumber

 

Darkness, an icy breath does breathe

as hibernation whispers its name

Life is over, time is done, all is gone

Sleep murmurs a soporific lullaby

into the early hours of immortality

Welcome O blessed sun

to your craven earth