Peaceful,
Shades of white brightness
Cow Parsley billows
Soft waves in the fields
Lit by a silver sun
Rowan and Hawthorn
Sheltering lambs
And turning to rust
As summer rises
Over the moor
Vast clouds of white cotton
Across the wide acres
Dancing in crowds
As the wheatear tips out
The beat of the day
And I hear the echo
Of a Whitethroat singing
Her sacred song
Beside her fields of gold.
#CoSopoetry
And there I was
Complaining
about the strength of the wind
It being the end of May
And all,
And then I noticed
The lustrous leaves
Of my moorland oak
Reaching out to me
As if to say
We've been through worse
Together
I'm inspired
By the tenacity of tree
And the spirit
Of the heart of oak.
The Curlew calls
Her treasures home
And I fly
With the Swallows.
#CoSopoetry
A moorland morning
Loaded with memory
Grounded, held
By a fierce weight of story.
A quiet noise
Rises from the mountain
Softly at first
Then joined by another
Layers of story
Connected
In measured love
Lost in the music
That played long ago
Held together
By Curlew song
Floating with pleasure
Down to our treasure
Singing our song
In separate measure
Then meeting
And parting
And meeting again.
The wise owl of time
Quarters the moor
But the music connects us
To all we have known
#CoSopoetry
So softly gliding
Near silent, and searching
Feathers a'shimmer
Like silk in soft sunlight
Eyes dark like coals
From a deep mine, not burning
But gentle and cool
Like the sweetness that flows
From the reviving pools
Of a high mountain rivulet
Sparkling with light
Of love in the morning
Ghosting like mist
On the buttercupped meadow
With the grace of a kiss
in the quiet of the night
#CoSopoetry
A grey morning
Dark, almost twilight,
On the very edges of things
The distance between now
And the beautiful days.
Absence and presence
Noticing not noticing
And there you are
As if from my dreams
Ghostlike and wandering
Wonder in your dark eyes
Floating silent and free
Over golden buttercups
And soft chervil tops
And I am with you
We're flying together
Far away
Over a distant meadow
No longer dreaming
#CoSopoetry
Dark clouds sailing
Dark Rooks gathering
On muck-spread stubble
Little islands of sunshine
Light up the hills
In fortunate places
Always moving
Along with the breeze
And I know I'll be lucky
There's rain in the valley
But my way is clear
Skylarks flooding my head
With beautiful music
And my joy at the summit
A golden Curlew
Lit by the morning
So close I could touch her
On my own little island
Of silver sunlight.
#CoSopoetry
Sunshine and showers
Wet roads and rainbows
Thunder rumbles
Flood water flows
Down the sides of the roads
Carrying stones from the moor
On their great migration
Down to the valley floor
The blue tits are busy
Baby birds calling
The garden a flutter
Of fast wings and buzzing
Of fuzzy bees and tiny wasps
The humming declines
In the darkness of clouds
But the light brings the music
Of honey and hives
Stop and listen
Our too busy lives
#CoSopoetry
This is beauty
A warm southerly
Like the breath of a lover
Leading me gently
To where I will go
Sweet air
Aniseed spiced
Fennel and chervil
Dandelion clocks
Shine between buttercups
Golden glowing
All along my going
Up to where skylarks
Whisper their prayers
In the cloisters of heaven
Echoing so clearly
in the so gentle quiet
Of a soft summer morning.
#CoSopoetry
Buttercups and Cow Parsley
Billowing golden
and frothed like a green bay
At sunset,
Beyond a storm-wracked day
There's a peace in this breeze
Though the broad green leaves
Have been ripped from the branches
Of sycamore trees
The Curlew calls
Wild, not free
Protecting her treasures
Like a shepherdess
Counting her blessings.
#CoSopoetry
I'm late today
There was work to do
The light looks different
In the late afternoon
A low sky
And a gusting wind
Tearing green leaves
From cherry trees
Skylarks are singing
Over the stubble
High on the wild edge
Of the breeze
I'm flying,
At ease on the hill
There's a Curlew
Flying beside me
Singing a Curlew's song
Haunting me
With joy.
#CoSopoetry
Cleansing rain
In opaque sheets
Siling down
Washing me down
with late spring coolness
Knowing now
The reason for the mow.
And the skylarks are singing
In spite of the rain
And all their troubles,
And I know in my heart
that their beautiful song
Is about starting again
Somewhere safer.
#CoSopoetry
Three Curlew, a skylark
And a song without words
Both mournful
And triumphant
Floating
like a ship of dreams
Over the misty ocean.
Summer green
Brightens the morning
Chases the gloom away
And the pull of the hill
Is easing.
The air is full
Of the scent of the mow
But I'm up to my waist
In buttercups and lace
And deep in my heart
I know.
#CoSopoetry
Utterly gorgeous
Cornflower blue
Cloudless
The softness of cool
On the summer breeze
May in her glory
Dancing in her joyful
golden fields
Hedgerows bright with
White lace shimmering
And heady
with the scents of spring
Hawthorns blush
With rosy tints
As deep within
The hidden wrens
tick like little clocks
Counting down the years.
#CoSopoetry
Oh to live in a land of gold
Where the air is sweet
And gentle stories told
Enchanted music falling
Down from a silver sky
Even as the mist is lifting
Tinkling music falls like rain
And the gentle fingers
of soft sunlight
Pull back the shimmering curtains
To reveal a world of vivid green
And light the fragrant candles
On the shining chestnut tree
Sets golden scented fire to glow
In the lovely heart of the laburnum.
#CoSopoetry
Hello blackbird
My soul friend
Singing sweet and low
High up in the Cherry tree
Just as dawn begins to glow
Today the mist is soft and gentle
Cobwebs jewelled, wherever I go,
Glistening in the milky morning
I'll ride the way the rivers flow
Gently,
and amazed
at what's unfolding
Every day you sing to me
From high up in your cherry tree
My anam cara, my blithe and free
Spirit of the morning.
#CoSopoetry
Whitsuntide
The fullest flow of life
Even when the clouds are low
The sky is bright
With whitest light
Over a fallen cloud
of fading Bluebells
Golden fields
Buttecup-full are
Edged in lace
My senses filled
The delicate, delicious
Incipience of spring
All we have waited for
Is erupting
Rowan, hawthorn
and apple-blossom blush
A flush of lilac clover
The time of our lives
is here and now
#CoSopoetry
Where is my delight
On a misty may morning?
Cattle amble over the meadow
from the morning milking shed
Quiet in their breathy wonder
At the silver grass.
Dewdrops shimmer
On Dandelion clocks
Damp fluff no time will measure
But quicksilver-lit,
they shine like stars.
What music can I hear?
Goldfinches twinkle
lighting the walls with glitter
And a Curlew sings
Her descending song
Down to the heath
And her treasure.
#CoSopoetry
No future, no past,
Only the present moment
No view of distant hills
Or monuments
Most might say
the day is dull
But we choose how to see it.
The mile-long field
Glows golden in the grey
A million buttercups are singing
Lifting the larks to a golden sun
The single cornflower
Of the early spring
A bright blue galaxy
With new stars forming
None decaying
Bursting with light
And a gentle radiance
Lifting my heart
And lifting the Lapwing
Into the dance.
#CoSopoetry
The peace of the roe deer
In the deep of the green
The stillness of the little owl
Waiting patient on the wall
The song of the skylark
From the top of the sky
The wildness of geese
Whose calls light the valley
The abandon of Lapwing
Dancing and free
The strength of the oak
Green fingers of leaves,
Charging my spirit
Reaching out,
touching me.
#CoSopoetry
Theres a beautiful blue
To the sky today
A cooler edge
to the warmth of the sun
So I went the way I seldom go
And noticed the peace
Of the morning
The Curlew calls
From the mile-long field
There's a Heron standing
Over silver water
And the Rooks rattle
the noisy woods
Orange tips flutter
Round milkmaids and bluebells
Lovage and borage
Settling in small spirals
On mustard.
#CoSopoetry
Cyclist, poet and musician. Coach and mentor. Retired doctor. Lover of nature and wild places