Invisible breath
sometimes in the colder months
she wears a white coat

On my kitchen shelf
happy little saucepan birds
nest inside each other

Sea-Flower
you were never one of us
not really
I think you drifted
perhaps we cut you loose
I cannot remember
anyway we meant no harm
we had the shallow callow charm of youth
a cruel chant
which slays the slayer in the end
how could we comprehend your need
or the way that it would end
one cold October day among the ****
pale as apple blossom
Sea-Flower indeed

Bittersweet words
drip from your tongue
in a pool of deception
through which we wade
the silent rain of promises made

I loved you most
in our bittersweet years
a taste of honey
wrapped in tears

A scurrying wind is a tidy wind
a helpful picker of discarded litter
things that we should have put in the bin
but it has no bag to put them in

Fields of white crosses
to mark out the losses
of harvested poppies