A hesitant dawn, you silence the bells 

And change the scene

with that touch of myth   

that turns every  living thing to ice.

Flakes bristle from every twig,

spicules sparkle like Christmas,

then detach and sink,

swinging through a sunlit sea. 

The trees, decked like brides,

Mock hungry deer with confetti

No celebration here as they clash  

And paw the snow in  their frostration.

Related posts:

1. Winter 2010; A Celebration. It’s so clear in the freezer; the sky deeper.   Steam...
2. Winter’s coming. To the barricades! It was 1789. France was still a feudal monarchy.  All...
3. He brings me frogs When trees turn dim and lose their scent, And birds...

A column of grey four by fours

Barbour and tweed in a huddle,  

Sausage and eggs and plus fours,

Top dogs! And so eager to show off   

Their bright eyes, the shine on their coats. 

The day may be cold and depressing,  

Their senses, wag-tailed and wet-nosed. 

The crack of a discharging shotgun,

The toss of  the heather-bound lure,

The straining of haunches, the release of the leash

If he finds it in time, he will score. 

A mobile olfactory sensor 

Scanning shark-like first this way, then that  

For a bean bag clad in green plastic

and the scent of the sweat of a hand.    

Buttoned up and tense with frustration,

She leans out above the dark lake,

And with vowels and gesticulation, 

She strains to correct his mistake.

A panic, a blank of confusion     

The reward, mislaid or ignored,

lies beneath the dull red rhododendron, 

Submerged, like her hopes of reward. 

And here where the bracken grows darker,

In the shade where the rain never falls,

The omega wins, not the alpha.

He’ll not think; he’ll just do as he’s told.   

 …  …  …  …  …  …  …  …  …  …

And when I asked my friend,

What drew him late to such pursuits,

he stroked a thoughtful chin..

‘It’s only to amuse,  I go on shoots,

And to compete.  I guess you’d say

I’m a dogless wonder; all bite and no bark!

                                                      The Bollard of Edensor

Related posts:

1. After the rain. A curtain falls across the secrets of the ghyll, the...
2. Sex in the Woods The breeze softens and fades down where the Blackbird’s beguiling...
3. Mediobogdum; a rant! By Jupiter, it’s grim here. Three months perched on a...

The building’s in scaffold, a big yellow crane

Is removing the tiles that cover the nave

And disturbing the sleep of the souls in their graves

Oh, they’re raising the roof of the church today.

They’re raising the roof of the church today!

The foreman’s come round to check it’s ok.

The boys are excited and shouting, ‘Hooray!’

They’re having such fun!  What more can I say?

Cos they’re raising the roof of the church today.

They’re raising the roof of the church today.

The frantic incumbent looks ashen and grey.

The Duke and the Duchess are in disarray.

They cancelled the trials since it poured yesterday!

Now they’re raising the roof of the church today!

They’re raising the roof of the church today.

The organist thunders, parishioners pray

To God, their salvation on this judgement day

Now the pathway to heaven’s wide open to gaze

Since they’ve raised up the roof on the church today.

Related posts:

1. Out for a duck! They called him ‘The Fire of the North’.  Once a...
2. Bliss And after I had washed the mud from my legs,...
3. In praise of uncertainty. The Archbishop of York, John Hapgood, once famously declared that...