The further I go

The more lost I have become

Too late to turn back

Banks buckle and burst

Water waiting for its turn

To run to the sea

Out here in the sticks

Far away from sine wave blips

Time like slow rain drips

Despite the wet wood

The wind the rain the black mood

All has become soot

Spring surely unfurls

Bringing coiled up catkin curls

Fling pollen dust swirls

Morning bus stop sky

Water floods in from all sides

Can’t escape my pride

Digging in the dirt

Scrabbling in the gravel

Harrow and furrow

Spring ripples decay

Cracks in the afternoon sky

Hope outshines all light

Each fork a new path

Some take you back to the start

Others lead nowhere

Do trees feel alone

As they reach through yesterloam

Listening for a phone?

Even when the sun

Breaks though ever thicker clouds

Still the rain will fall

Shouts echo cold Styx

Bounce around the blackened bricks

Carry candlesticks

Bramble and bracken

Reclaiming what was stolen

Slow and steady war

My toes start to freeze

The rain can’t fall endlessly

Summer sets us free

Look me in the eye

Lift your face up to the sky

Don’t tell me you’re shy

No acquiescence

No conflict. No distractions

No compromises

Here we can shelter

Out of the rain, but we can’t

Escape rising floods

As days grow longer

Snowdrops snatch the open sky

While they have the chance

Stuck at the start line

Jumping for the lowest branch

Falling back again

Holly leaves turn sharp

When they are cut back or grazed

I try to stay calm

Milky fog drags past

Tangled briars can’t hold it back

I pull myself through

Stream seep, soak, settle

Splash slip, slide, slope, squeeze, shimmy

Slap, scrape, scratch, scurry

Chase these bouncing tails

Between heather, broom and gorse

Meanwhile time has flown