Moon hangs above the lake

red, immense, menacing:

bats flit & the barn owl hoots

its portents.

A baby rabbit squeals ‘n dies

in cat’s mouth, fox prowls

the chicken house, snapping.

A garden flame of crackling twigs

the church spire & the village

wait each day for twilight lull.

On planet blue we twist & whirl

around a burning star

while gravity pins us.

All night

the planets glow like

cat’s eyes & the moon

an orange lava lamp

holding up the black sky

If I lie

staring over roof tops

while the jumbos glide

like messengers & you out there

on the other side

call my name.

All night

I listen for your footsteps

a rustle in a hedgerow

a face across a crowded bar

a whisper to say

where you are.

All night

I’m counting empty moonbeams

reaching for you in my sleep

watching purple edges of a grey dawn

the edges of infinity

I’d lie

if I said I knew the answer

held the key, could erase

your face within a mirror

hand across a table

a kiss beside the river.

All night

while the planets glow like fireflies

the moon an orange lava lamp

all night under this black sky

I wait.

We were drunk with heat

champagne edged, headachy

moving moodily like

sugar stoked children

bitten by yesterday’s sun

skin chapped to rose

lips parched ears straining

to hear thunder’s rumble.

Crescendo of kettledrum:

clouds scurry over Canary Wharf

I reassemble myself from bones,

sleep buried.

Grass now pregnant with rain

wind weaves spells into the dusk

‘Life is sunlit’ you said as you

emptied your pockets of us.

High in the turret of becoming

I laid my heart to rest

amongst the cobwebs & the

pigeon’s nests

watched the sun slash the elliptic

like a lover’s smile.