In monochrome
Winter depths
In haunting monotonous roar
Of the winter wind
I dream
Of the soughing trees
Their naked form
With fingered branches
Protesting as they are
Bent low
And rain hammers down
On iron clad ground
Like sparks from
The farrier’s steel
On anvil
Made as
Headlamps light
The dark road ahead
A sparkling thread
Perchance I dream
In silver.
Hoar Frost
Through feathered leaves,sutured needles,
Icy spines
Under the astral sky,
Dark fingers charm;
Crystals, thick which interlock,
Breathe superstition
Into the night of
Supersaturated air;
The silhouette is manifest;
It’s stature changed,
Transformed to supernatural
Spectral state.
Earth lays down her Mantle
Gripped within the jaws of bitter cold;
Betwixt the Equinox of Winter and of Spring;
When Earth her mantle,
In frozen form lays down
And leaden skies move across eastern soil ;
The wind,afresh, torments
The slender trees;
The door it rattles
And the signal comes;
Steeled ,the weathervane turns anew;
Precariously, it points to unknown sights
The garden,hauntingly now is stilled;
The high banks,protection graciously afford;
The earth awaits the snow that still may come
Reminding that winter’s chains are nailed and riven.
Under an English Sky
In laminar flow the colours,
Kaleidoscopic move
Across the moorland ridge;
Burnished bronze
And a torrid haze of straw
Unites with cooler greens
As the leaden clouds give way
To patches of powder blue
And the world really does
Awaken to the promise
Under an English Sky.
The difference of one Day
Beguiled by beauty
The transient winter’s morn
With hint of white streaked
Across a cyan sky
The palette of the hedgerow
Swapped for lichen covered
Moorland rocks
And sweeping views
Candescent rise
From aloft the mighty
Granite tors.
Air to breathe
The warmth of sun
Respite from rain.
Frost at Dawn
Uncertain,
That time between shaded
Dawn and morning,
Nature,
In frailty of perfection;
Earth lays down on frosted ground
Stillness and clarity
To seduce the mind
On distant views
Just out of bounds
Though view,restriction cannot hold
Unchained
It serves to sate the soul;
Transient it embraces
Ephemeral white and laced
Before transfigured it
Resumes its green stained hue.
Under a latent sun.
Lighthouse
The strength of the beam
Casts out darkness
25 miles the light is cast
Reassurance for those at sea
Enduring constancy for us at home.
Dark Clouds
Dark clouds are the question
But what of the answer?
Into the unknown
In fear and sadness
In isolation and incertitude
Overwhelmed by events
Beyond our control
We are falling
Moving in different directions
Yet the world still spins
In certainty
In smooth rotation
To look ahead is to look above
In One who order out of chaos brought
And place our trust.
Winter walk
A pale wintery light floods the bare furrows
As earth drops her mantle
Laid bare to North Eastern winds
Dark fingered branches
Frame the scene
And steal the unexpected glow
Locking secrets beneath their bows
Protection offered
In elemental fusion
As dry pine needles crunch beneath our boots
We skim the forest edge
Deliberately
To keep the light
And security of forest depths
Deep in thought
Until we turn for home
And into the raw wind that rattles
The towering pines
Redemptive and free.
If ever there was a Robin
A well- rounded Robin if ever I did see
Strong and confident
Insulated with down
And astride the bushes a beacon be
Of hope in times as these.
Ruth Partridge 