Winter 2010; A Celebration.
It’s so clear in the freezer;
the sky deeper.
Steam rises from the falls,
turns grass stems to prayer flags,
trees into wedding gowns.
The windows of the big house,
shine gold and
Thomas Payne’s excellent bridge
burns like a biscuit
against moors of palest pink
Crystal deep,
sparkling deer
join cosy sheep
In a warm circuit of silage,
fermenting an uneasy friendship
in cloven harmony of hunger.
Flashing red, a woodpicker
pecks at freezing bark
while Titmice forage,
out of habit, more than hope,
Spying a discarded raft, I climb aboard
and launch myself down the slope until,
disgorged in a tumble of laughter,
I get the drift, use my hands,
like rockets on a space module
to gain stability but no direction.
A stranger eyes me by the cattle grid,
‘I’ve only come for my grandson.’
I smile like sheep in silage.
And resolve to buy a sledge.
Published on:
January 16, 2010
