In spring
you
danced strawberry meringues
While cherry blooms glittered
About you
The tree has had to grow old without you
Instead a tiny spot nearby
Under which you lie
Little profound thing
In the big green I lets the tears stream
salute the single magpie
Blossoms
Now falling drops of pain
Why did you get peace
for so many years?
In that one small spot
That yields so many tears?
Will I be brave enough to
Dig up the box
And smile at the reunion
Of little things we shared?
Your tiny fingers
wrapped around ..
my heart still
Beating instead of yours.

Your figure comes into focus with confidence.
The teacher passes pencils and I unglue.
I hadn’t know the terrain
But I had scaled you.
The bell pings.
Scratching pencils playing flames.
We can share tales uneasy to tell
As shadows dance in merry games.
The fourth question is a rest.
You introduce yourself in honey voice
but I’ve known you.
The bell pings again.

Lying in the waking up
I see your shadow nigh
Resting sated next to me,
Can almost hear you sigh.
You joined me
Sometime in the night
And did not say goodbye.
Anointed realm, Love’s bleary sleep,
Resides yet in my eye.

That winter was not cold enough for snow.
But the spring brought an unexpected storm
That carpeted early flowering bulbs;
A full winter’s worth made hearths ever warm.
Half life of ice around hearts cold and worn.
Of fingers interlaced
Of you and me
So intensely life was brought back to life.
We melted each other in those spring days.
Coolest adults found ablaze in delight
When dark spring usurped the cold light that year;
When it brought neighbours briefly together
Until snow became slush and unwanted -
That pretender whose timing was all wrong.
You said “you can’t blame the seasons, you know”.
But I won t  forget the thrill of spring snow.

On a patch of the yard
Behind my house
Lives are being risked
And even lost
Nature maintains.
Each end not a spectacle
But a prelude.
This is not a subtle thing
But simply the cost
Of perpetuity.

We were met on two shores
trying to get to the beach
we both knew the terminus
stood just out of reach
and we settled for us
with the thought in our heads
that if something improved
we’d move out of there.

Then the storm had subsided
and none of us cried it
was more than we’d hoped for
and mother just moped there for
days but we’ll raise her spirits
buy in more spirits and drink her a toast
while the waves belt the coast.