I did not

expect,

 

to meet

this way:

 

did not receive

your presence

 

as a gift,

I know

 

you are

like the wind.

 

I did not

believe

 

we’d ever

kiss;

 

instead we

 

pocket

sentences.

 

You kept me

as an option

 

a present

ready

 

to unwrap:

 

I did not

expect

 

to meet

across

 

the river

of becoming,

 

nor does

disappointment

 

paint the

day;

 

only acknowledge

the words you speak

 

are empty.

 

 

 

Wind: water:

bird tracks

 

triangulate;

 

pungent sludge

green, fishy;

 

dog camouflage

certain russet

 

gold of season’s

end, a new

 

Eden.

 

Far out

kite surfer

 

floats,

like an

 

angel;

 

ground heat

incubation;

 

gannets

scream

 

from

knife edge

 

nest

 

we are

undone

 

in nature’s

story.

 

 

Inhale: exhale:

heart craves

 

what can

never be;

 

& so, we live

 

throwing life

up into

 

the wild wide

blue, straining

 

as it

disappears.

 

Inhale: exhale:

& how many

 

years

 

does it take

to glimpse

 

the essence?

 

A glance,

a word,

 

across a

crowded

 

room;

 

who would

have thought

 

that ‘we’,

would survive?

 

Inhale: exhale:

drift into

 

the web

of sleep,

 

‘snap’ out

light

 

journey free,

complexity

 

at last,

vanquished.

 

 

 

 

Season end

the morning

 

scents of

crisp cold

 

days to

come.

 

Apples ripe

now summer’s

 

just a dream;

 

sun drenched

scenes,

 

supper under

August moon

 

wine & song;

back then

 

it seemed

that laughter’d

 

never end.

 

Here

cherry tree

 

has lost

her glow,

 

clouds

roll in:

 

for you

&  me

 

another year

plucks with

 

unknown

fingers

 

whispers

‘sleep’

 

autumn mist

&  memories.

 

 

 

Valley twists

to forest

 

river fleuve

green carapace

 

silent.

 

Drop down

to Paris basin

 

fat plough

tills dry

 

soil in

late August

 

light.

 

Light coats

sward

 

beneath

huge Quixotic

 

windmills

hands held

 

to heaven.

 

Crest of the hill

falls away

 

sea beneath

‘falaise’

 

such a tongue

tied word

 

to play

with.

 

Calais,

seagulls

 

whirl & mob

begging for

 

tourist

crumbs

 

like the

camp,

 

barely glimpsed

through iron

 

fence, ring

roading ’them’

 

from ‘us’

as if

 

indifference

renders

 

invisible.

 

Sun glints

late on

 

grey green

wave:

 

I am afloat

in all of this,

 

genuflect

returning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn arrives,

stiff breeze,

 

growling of the

traffic

 

old olive

stands sentinel:

 

beached, as I am

by fate’s fickle

 

finger.

 

Swallow’s swoop

the pool line

 

memories

creep in

 

you & I

so young,

 

the children

at our feet.

 

Did we ever

dream of

 

this?

 

Palms wave;

the house

 

sleeps,,

 

but I,

still alive

 

leap from

tangled sleep

 

to salute

how we lived

 

& loved here.