Expectation

Coming down this morning, I saw in the bone white dish, a cargo of garlic; ten bruise-pink cloves in a nest  of papery skins, like dormant commas awaiting the next sentence. . The station clock was at quarter to ten. I’m going to plant them, you said. ‘They need to catch the first frost, and perhaps,       next year, we’ll cook together.’ Read more »

Out for a duck!

They called him ‘The Fire of the North’.  Once a soldier, man of action, with connections to the King,   A traveller, he healed the sick  From Dumfries to Berwick,   Made miracles from Durham to Dunbar, Received acclaim from Rome.   . Be our bishop, they cried.   At first, he denied.  Too much work,  he replied.  I need peace, time and space to converse with the... Read more »

The Dark Side of the Moon

  You rise alone at dusk,  sick with longing; a melancholy romantic,    pale reflection of desire, intent on seduction.   Your glance, inscrutable, beguiles with suggestion, creates shades of possibility, among fragrant borders, transplanted with lust.   You suck tsunamis from the deep That sweep me from the beach     to drown in your mystery, that cold, silent accomplice that fate... Read more »

Praise the Lord

They're raising the roof of the church today! 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... Read more »