Easterly
Bright and strong
A wall of wind
Twisting the green-brown leaves
Along the track
in little spirals
A Buzzard traces circles
Over the noisy wood
Everything's turning.
Neither here nor there
Somewhere in between.
The Ash is
silver-singing
A stream in spate
The sycamore, roaring
Like the ocean, rolling.
The mighty beech
Tinkling like pebbles
Hushing on a shingled shore
A different music
In every tree.
#CoSopoetry

Into a perfect day
Autumn light
Gentle on my face
Soft, like the stroke
Of a gentle hand.
Up to the top
of the little hill
I know so well
You have never been
More beautiful.
A bright veiled sun
Sings with silver light
Two swans dazzle
On a mirrored lake
White on white on white
And all the world is ours.
The woods, so lovely
On a day like this
The slender birch
is crowned with gold
And amber warms
the towering beech.
#CoSopoetry

Cloudless horizons
Crystal clear and cold
All the mills face north
They're turning gently
And humming softly
to themselves
Noisy geese
are gathered
On the hillside
Waiting for a sign,
Crows have turned
their silver backs
Towards the golden sun
And are busy picking over
Last night's molehills
There's a frost in the meadow
And there's clover by my tree
And a hole in the sky
Where the lark should be.
#CoSopoetry

A glory
The golden glow
In the eastern sky
Lights the cold edge of
Sharpened air
This morning
Takes my breath away
The first glitter of winter
On the shining road
The Raven high
In a clear blue sky
And the gorse
Smiles back at the sun.
There is music too
In the turning of my wheels
And the trill of wrens song
Thrilling the hawthorn.
#CoSopoetry

@swinemiester I've looked again at this. When I first looked I believed it to be a painting or a pastel sketch. I see now it is a photograph. I think it is absolutely glorious. Beautiful.

@swinemiester that is a beautiful image. Thank you😊

A misty, monochrome world
All the colour has disappeared
And I'm left with shades of grey.
What would I give
For just one dandelion to love.
I feel for the weasel
Who makes a beeline
For a too-small
wall-hole
Slinking away,
in weasel-shame.
Out of a low grey sky
she came to say hello
Too brief, and then
She wheeled away,
To hover on the edge of things again.
#CoSopoetry

Oh yes,
This is October
An overcast sky
An orchestra in the wind
Sopranos in the wires
And rain, in sheets,
Billowing over the moor.
A single Raven speaks
Dark and low
Down by the shelter
of ancient walls
Starting from here
Waits for the moment
When the wind is his,
And leaps into the breeze.
#CoSopoetry

A gentle morning
Soft-lit, silver-grey and clear
All the bright colours
Of glorious summer
Fading to sepia
Little rubies
Shining in the thorn
Winter thrushes arrived last night
And are chuckling in their treasure.
I've been up this hill
A thousand times and more.
Not once
have I thought it
Easy.
This exacting measure
Is far surpassed by its reward.
#CoSopoetry

A thick fog
Murky and warm
The world is blurred
And all I can see
Is walls.
The chatter of magpies
The screaming of gulls.
Something's burning
The incense of youth
Earth and water
Timber, mould and leaf.
The smell of the hideaway
All those wild freedoms
Taken for granted
And gone
Like the smoke
Of all the years.
#CoSopoetry

October, bright
In the light
Of a milk white sun
A pale shadow
Riding before me.
Have you noticed
the autumn Hawthorn?
Loaded with riches
And heavy with berries
Crimson, magenta
Branches bent
with a weight of delight
For winter thrushes.
It's peaceful today
The rain has stopped
The silver streams
have ceased their roaring
I can hear their music
Wherever I go.
#CoSopoetry

Into the half-light
Half-night of an autumn morning
The sky billowing darkly,
As grey as the ocean
My shoes still wet
From yesterday's soaking
I promise myself
I would find a dry line.
I notice the way
The crows fall
upon the sacrifice
To careless haste
Descending
with careful reverence
Their black cackle
A prayer.
There's a flood
At the foot
Of the jangly hill
And I'm soaked to the skin
Again.
#CoSopoetry

Against the wind
Through the mist
And weather
How much rain can
one sky hold?
All the streams
have broken loose
And wander
Deep and free
White froth
and brown boil.
New lakes intrude,
Silver and rippling
The scent of water
Earthy,
peat and stone
I'm pulled along
And caught up
Alive in the undertow
Of wild weather
Completely present
in the real world.
#CoSopoetry

The complicated business
Of riding into the wind
Noticing my vulnerability
And the wildness of the world
All of my power
Exerted on a
Single point of failure.
Pawl finds its resistance
And we move forward
Or misses the point
And my world collapses
It's the missing
That hurts the most.
My head is full of ghosts
And the gulls that scream
On the edge of my dream
Crowd out my poem
With empty promises.
#CoSopoetry

There's something wild
about the air
Dark and forbidding
Cloud lowering
Hunkered down
The valley in cloud-shadow
The loud song of the wind
Crows hang on the edge
Ragged and raucous
Joy in their tumbling
And here, by the gate
I can see for miles
The world is wide
and waiting.
#CoSopoetry

Haunted by the music of summer
Even in the low growl
Of the autumn breeze
Even as the tiny darts
Of rain at speed
Pepper my face
And mark mad marching rhythms
On my wet jacket
My friend is a Raven
With a will as strong
as steel.
Head into the wind
Thread your way through it
There is always a way,
Even if you have to go back
To go on.
#CoSopoetry

These misty autumn moors are
full of kindly ghosts
Joyful larks and Swallows
careful lapwing,
Mournful curlew,
I hear them still,
They fill the space
beyond the quiet air
Today the sky is low
The wind hushes softly
through the walls
And up above,
beyond the quiet
Ticking of the wren
I hear the sounds
of wild geese calling
#CoSopoetry

October sky
Heavy cloud
Hanging low,
Darkening
Slowly swirling
Ox eye daisies
smiling back
The green hill shining
Black rooks
cackle and grunt
Gowned professors
Studying their ground
Wild-eyed lords
Dancing on the beaded green
And hurtling from sycamores
Like loons.
As goldfinches
In droopy thistles
Tinkle happy tunes
#CoSopoetry

Ethereal light
The sounds of wild geese calling
Seeing with my ears
There's a warmth
To be found
At the edge of things
The faint friction
of barely touching.
The sound of hello
Seems so far away.
Gruff riders compete
Racing away to the top of the hill
Me, I'm happy enough,
looking for owls.
#CoSopoetry

It was love brought me here
A wild spirit
A white bird
Flying into the gale
Barely moving
Alive and glowing
All the waters of an impossible winter
All of the colours of spring
All of the beauty of seven high summers
All the not knowing
All of the angels
All of the dancers
All of the poems and the songs and the music
All of the love, and all of the learning
All of the failure, all of the light
Threads through a tapestry
Shining bright.
#CoSopoetry