Poet's footsteps

Poet’s footsteps

The poet’s art do I detect
To follow clues and then connect
Nose out scents, say madeleine
And smell the memory come again
To read the runes like vapour trails
Hear the secret song of whales
Watch the babe and see the man
Mine the future if you can
Search for breadcrumbs, pebbles mark
A hidden route through world gone dark
Or thread the pebbles on a chain
Spider’s web bejewelled with rain
In glass suspended rainbows dance
Weave with words the mystic trance
Love the language, make it sing
Create a necklace on a string
Pearls or teardrops let it shine
Leave it for a travellers’ sign
The poet’s footsteps careful fall
Lost world explorer for us all

October 3rd 2009, Hounoux

Slow Gardening

Slow Gardening

The gardener at Cormatin
One of three, his work among the formal beds
Smiled and spoke of what he loved
Described himself as slow
No speed was in his day
I heard the beauty in that word
Where some perhaps would frown
Tut in censure, bustle by
At least a hundred synonyms
Are listed here, like lazy
Dumb and dull, lagging, slack
Or plodding, dilatory, dense
Stagnant, tiresome, just plain late
The list is sluggish, snail-like, thick
A heavy-footed catalogue
Lumpen trails across the page
But speedy world, all rushing on
Some treasure may be missed
The loveliness in largo
Lingering andante lentissimo
The gift of time unhurried
The beauty of the slow

4th October 2009, Hounoux

Cormatin

Cormatin

A walk in the garden with friends
Formal French geometry
Clipped in hedges box and yew
Dug in diamonds curbed clean kempt
Ancient treasure here restored
And careful modern in the midst, permitted wildness
Grasses blow

At every turn a new delight
Autumn colours shimmer bright

Sun on water, ripples, geese
Crimson deckchair on the lawn
Look, secret wonder through the arch
A potager that brims and bursts
Sings and laughs and calls us in
An artist’s palette here deployed
To feast the senses, soothe the soul
Every shade and colour splashed
To clash and contrast, blend and match

At every turn in mellow light
A walk with friends for sheer delight

30th September 2009, Lys, Burgundy, for Sue and Di

Passing Nimes

Passing Nimes

The sun astonishing
Crimson filled the sky
Floating, hung on the horizon
Moment of suspense
As we sped by

A last lantern show
Shadow shapes of clouds crossing
Two in silhouette, fishermen
Slow punting on reddest lake
As we sped by

Then to right the west for miles
Suffused with tangerine and peach
Glowing, stark the hills in black
And left, the moon in splendour rose
As we sped by

1st October 2009, passing Nimes on the autoroute, en route home, for Jude who loves sunsets

Preserved

Preserved

There’s more to Autumn than melancholy
Mists, golden grove un-leaving
Grieving, chrysanthemums
Acrid, banked in the churchyard
The dying of the light
Swallows mustering for flight
Keats had it hymned to perfection
Mellow fruitfulness
His ode is humming
Turning, perfect burnished orb
Glowing, as I chop and stir
Preserving in the pan
Purples, deep reds, aubergine
Provender, jewels from the hedgerows
Tomato, elderberry, black fig
Bursting, bubbling
Vinegar, balsamic, soft brown sugar
Cardamom, all spice, ginger
Yes there’s more to Autumn than melancholy
Conserved, held fast in chutney, compote, jam
Jars stacked, stored against the coming cold
Magic gift and souvenir
Of Summer’s blessed and ripening sun

27th September, 2009, Hounoux

September Returning

September Returning

First thoughts, uneasy
Waking to the cloud
The mist of the morning
Enveloping the land
Probe if you must
But gently
For still it lies there
Where? Midriff high
I’d guess, beneath the low lintel
Of my human heart
Beating, old faithful
But muffled drums
Pressing, oppressing
No sudden movements
Sidle slowly, with care
Take first cup of tea
And cradle for warmth
Season for grieving, leaving
September returning
My Autumn is here

September 24th 2009, Hounoux, for my Encouragers and friends, with love

Memory-keeper

Memory-keeper

A memory-keeper I made
In blues and red and white
Embellished with shot-silk gold
For the moon like a sovereign,
Writing in stitches winding
Upwards, declaring my love
For the boy, his name on the train
On the tracks at the hem
Who one day will grope
Tiptoes, curious to see
The hidden in the pockets,
First dummy, shoe, white rabbit,
Poem, the book cousin wrote, full of love
A memory-keeper I made
His own museum piece
Recording his history, his small
As yet, life-line, his connection
To past, three generations back
For jogging of memories, remember
Do you, remember, when
The century was young
And love came to call
Knocked, entered, and stayed to grow
To laugh by the fireside
To settle, don’t go
For holding it down, bird under glass
Butterfly moments, pinned on the page
Fleeting, ephemeral
A kiss, infant hug
Enjoy all we can, for tomorrow
He’s fled, flown
Grown, leaving home,
Not sad, glad rejoicing at birth
New life ahead, I chose
Colours and cottons and shot-silk for moon
And I stitched
And embroidered a work full of love
In blues and red and white
A Memory-keeper I made

September 9th, 2009, en route for Grenoble, for Luca