Lightly, almost imperceptibly,
dusk quiets and stills the day.
The brightness and youth
of morning vibrates with
exciting expectations
of unknown adventures
waiting to be discovered,
a reaching-out for the new,
the yet-to-be understood,
surpassing the mind’s compass,
the boundaries and limits
of comprehension and imposition.
Time passes, a transmutation
occurs, barely noticed.
The heat of the mid-day sun
exposes newly-discovered
experiences and passions
that subsume all days
with the present, the now,
nothing more, nothing less,
in a momentary phase,
narcissism, an island in the sun.
In time, the sun loses its heat.
We breathe air cooled with a stir
of late afternoon breeze that
tempers passions and desires
and leads to a calmness of mind
with faint birdsong, the music
of rustling leaves and grasses,
and a contentment born of
experience, age, and wisdom
and the beauty of the evening.
In the end dusk slips over the day
lightly, almost imperceptibly.
Healing balms from heaven,
April showers so cool,
Fall on us like feather;
Revive body and soul,
Sweep out the closed weather...!
Romantic warmth they give,
Like graces from heaven,
Chill-thrill each inner cell;
Green grass and moss unfurl,
Like smooth velvet spread well...!
Fog and mist hide in fear,
In an air-cooled climate,
Jet streams fly far away;
Clouds, as though wet white lambs,
Beneath skies stay and sway...!
Fertile earth, sprout dead seeds,
Blooms with new creation,
Daisies and sweet peas spread;
Attuned with the cosmos,
Nature's flow moves ahead...!
16 April 2022
The summer air was still, 'neath golden sky
where lively birdsong filled motionless trees
sun shied away while cirrus clouds passed by
air cooled and briefly birthed a subtle breeze.
The scent was fleeting, but I recognised
the petrol fumes mixed with newly mown grass
the present scene replaced before my eyes
with summer childhood from some decades past.
Dad's Suffolk Punch striping the long back lawn
mums gossipped, back and forth like free range hens
kids coming home, hands muddy, trousers torn
a snack, a drink, then off to play again.
Though age must smother youth, those times long gone
memories on the breeze will linger on
For contest 'one in five', sponsor Joseph May
January 28th 2018