Say twenty summers hence

Say twenty summers hence

I wonder will they

young men, grown

say twenty summers hence

recall the sunlit boundless days

unclothed

together friends

warm skinned, the barefoot boys

water grass and sand

tyre- rope swing

a garden hose

today a game of dogs, throwers and catchers of sticks

and pirates, bug-hunters

divers and splashers

fruit-pickers

explorers down the lane

beyond the garden gate

learning to leap, where water’s deep

to splutter and stay afloat

finding their inner brave

building a bond in busy-ness

in sunlit, boundless days

surely indelibly fixed

forming their future

friends together

say twenty summers hence?

31st July 2012, Hounoux, for Luca and Zachy

Boy, sand, water

Boy, sand, water

Boy

Sand

Water

Poured and mixed

Absorbed

Feeling the grit and wet

Watching it flow

Or slow

Silt and pool

Never a word

Absorbed

Poured and mixed

Water

Sand

Boy 

31st July 2012, Hounoux, for Zachy

Art

Art

Tiny bird upon the wire, a serin sits

as golden note on a stave

treble clef, pouring the sweetest song

and in the honeysuckle, lavender,

hummingbird moths abound

no sound, perfectly poised in the dance.

Between the peas and climbing beans

unruly poppies blow and campion,

larkspur lovely, a masterpiece by chance,

or simply the mountains misty blue

dreaming under the sky

landscape in layers, shades that shock

oranges, ochre, rose.

As bee-eaters flash in a gaudy group

swoop of the swallows too

rise then with the swallows, skim the sky

solace my troubled soul.

July 3rd 2012, Hounoux

Talisman and charm

Talisman and charm

Not in a box

but in a globe of glass, blown beautifully

from sand

first then, with care, that blackbird

perfecting his rounded notes,

with harmony from others 

seren squeak and a monotone  whistler;

swifts for the swoop, scything the sky

(which should be blue of course, plus cirrus swirls).

The pool, aqua, small ripples in a dance.

Lavender and bee buzz, whirring hummingbird moth;

Pierre de Ronsard rose

(for its white to pink blush), scent of honeysuckle, red rose

entwined, scrambling over the wall, pale stone warm

with crevices, creatures: a lizard wriggling, the tree frog

(for he quacks so loudly and his lime-bright green).

Pines,  preferably parasol for the south

the promise of salt and sea, Mediterranean

but cypress too, index upwards, Fingers of God.

Elderflower in May, frothed like cream

or lavish lacy cloth; geranium crushed pungent

basil most certainly, and mint

poppies (for they are survivors) brash, splash, staining the wheat fields red.

Put in cornflowers too!

Some terracotta tiles ridged on rooves

and last of all, a finishing and a frame

blue on the edge of the sky,

beloved mountains floating, like a dream.

All of it sealed, saved in a globe of glass

hung where it glows in the light

for talisman and charm,  

memories held in a poem

against the darkest day

2nd June 2012, Hounoux

Swifts

Swifts

In spite of it all

The mess we have made

Humans despoiling the planet

Drought and flash-flooding

Surplus and dearth

The Earth plundered for greed

In spite of it all

Hark, hear the call!

This much is still right with the rhythm

The way that the world should turn

Swooping they come

Black brown in the blue

Here for the summer to breed

In search of the eaves

Remembering a roof

Homing from African lands

Day after day, asleep on the wing

Never a foot to the ground

Resilient returner

Announced with a shriek and a squeal

In spite of it all

Look, crack in the wall

Rejoice for the swifts are come!

27th May 2012, Hounoux by the pool

Winter in May

Winter in May

Yesterday, winter in May

Clad in a cloud

Thick cloak swirled and settled, grey

Leaching the bright, the light

To monochrome

Altogether apt

Malaise is on the prowl

Ill-defined but surely ominous

Padding in circles

The polar bear is caged

Hard to recall the blue of a pool

Summer’s first dip

Raptors wheeling in pairs

And roses suddenly rampant

Colour and scent sublime

Depression squats on the valley

All the way to Spain

Leaching the bright, the light

To monochrome

May 21st 2012, Hounoux

Ambushed by beauty

Ambushed by beauty

Whether by accident or grand design
Deity with genius plan, six days
Then onward through millennia
Or happiest of chances, cataclysmic up-thrust
Cleft and crack, peak and rocky outcrop, crag
Whatever the origin and subsequent
The evolution
We might debate, more or less
Heatedly
Still, stood gazing south-westward
Across the valley and the foothills
To the Pyrenees, just now shades of purple
Veering blue
With white snow summits dripped
Irregular as icing
The lilt and roll, geology’s soft folds
Mostly bare, not brown
But umber, terracotta, aubergine
Readying for spring
In such a landscape, first fields
Brash with acid yellow
Cypresses stood sentinel
Vines in lines meticulous
See how the air does hum, redolent
Brimming with poetry
Scattered in seeds, broadcast
Rooting in richest soil
And other art transcendent
At every turn ambushed by beauty
A poem or a painting springs
Unbidden as a fountain
Lovely from this land

21st April 2012, Hounoux, for Gill my friend