THE GOLDEN ORB
The golden orb
Burning orange
Set slowly
Beyond the distant hills
As it slid slowly down
It painted the hills
In rainbow hues
Back lighting the tree line
Highlighting them boldly black
Showing them in stark relief
Against the crimson sky
As it was finally swallowed
By the western horizon
The sky was tinged with pink
Before darkness was everywhere
THE GREEN SEASON
Abundant rain
And warm sunshine
Paints the landscape afresh
Replacing the drabness
Of greys and browns
When the greens appear
In their infinite variety
Nature’s pallet used abundantly
Greens of every hue and shade
Fields of luscious green grasses
Trees speckled with bright buds
Like a vivid rash
Against brown limbs
Hedgerows sprout into life
While bulbs push through
The contrasting earth
Everywhere awash with viridity
Only in spring
Can the same colour
Appear in so many guises
So many variations
A veritable myriad
Across the spectrum
From dark olive to bright lime
Drab khaki to exotic emerald
Shades vivid and vibrant
And all this is but a pre cursor
Preparing the senses
For the coming
Explosion of colour
BIRD ON A REED
A reed moves
Under a birds meagre weight
The reed disturbs the calm water
Ripples echo outwards
Across the lake
Flat calm on a balmy eve
Each ripple expands out
And with each inch it grows
It stretches and diminishes
Until it is no more
Until another bird settles
On another reeds stem
KING GEORGE’S PARAKEETS
It was unbearably hot
Unbearably humid
Even breathing was exhausting
Overcome with fatigue
I parked my jeep at the roadside
In a shaded spot
I recline my seat
And pulled my hat over my eyes
And tried to grab forty
My shirt was soaked with sweat
And stuck to me and the seat
It was no good I couldn’t sleep
It was the constant noise
But not from the traffic
Rumbling by
It was the birds
Squabbling parakeets
Hundreds of them
Chattering and squawking
I gave up trying to nap
And got back underway
You come to expect this
Next to an Australian highway
But not parked in a lay-by
Next to a reservoir in Staines
GOOSED
The snow geese
In a massive flock
Take flight in unison
Filling the whole sky
Like clouds of white smoke
Billowing up from unseen fires
Rippling across the sky
As far as the eye can see
Almost blocking out the sun
So begins the migration
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
What is the lesser of these evils?
Ugly wind farms scarring our hills
Wave power trapping human mess
Or the three eyed fish of Dungeness
A BUTTERFLY FLUTTERS BY
Butterflies flutter by
On a balmy summer afternoon
An earthy fragrance in the air
After a shower of summer rain
Mingles with jasmine and honeysuckle
And you doze on the patio
Only to be awoken
By the more powerful fragrance
Eminating from the BBQ
And the chink of ice in a G & T
I AM THE SMOKE
I am the smoke
That will simply float away
Drift away powerless to stop
There is a kind of beauty about me
Also there is danger in me.
I am mercurial
I am thick like pea soup fog
Or thin and translucent like a veil
I have no purpose
I am only an after thought
I am the villain
A bi product of something useful
I am the smoke
SUMMER COLOUR
I love the colors of summer
From Vivid pinks loud and shocking
To more paler and subtle
And all those in between
Whites of abundant variety
Blues of every conceivable hue
Deep velvet purples and vibrant violets
Greens contrasting from dark olive
Through luscious emeralds to pale pastels
Soft lemon and pale sensual yellow
Loud in your face reds crimson and scarlet
Across the spectrum every shade
How I love the girls in summer
