Once the mud is slung

And stuck firmly to my face

Time to make it shine

Despite the wild wind

That roars and ravishes me

I’m still holding on

Next spring’s confetti

Already bound up in these

Tightly twisted buds

Curled up in our nests

Listen to the storm berate

Home is a safe place

With a cloud fogged mind

My aching empty limbs creak

I succomb to sleep

Thread the thorny eye

Watch the pylons’ lengthy stride

Are the birds just shy?

Lift those weary limbs

Soon the earth will start to turn

Back towards the light

Tongue tied, bramble hide

Divide hills with wires and lines

Created by my eyes

Let light carry you

Beyond all you thought you knew

Into deepest blue

If books contain leaves

Then libraries are huge forests

Filled with story trees

If I shed my leaves

Could I sleep through the winter

And respawn in spring?

Brambles overrun these

Crooked hedgerows, silently

Winter overcomes me

The joy of summer

Worn away by rain and ice

Hollow hearts echo

Is it delusion

To go on trying, without

Success or promise?

Cover me over

Freeze me from the outside in

Can I turn to stone?

Battered, beaten bare

By bracing gales, bent, broken

Bleak branches barren

Each season’s magic

Somehow fragile and fleeting

Light shining through leaves

Rise up and flee from

The hollow voice of scarecrows

Rattling our skull

If I too should fall

Or curl up into a ball

This is the long haul

Look inside yourself

What’s beneath that fragile shell?

Don’t let the wind win

Crows tear quiet clouds

With cunning cries that echo

Of concealed crimes

Frost fans final flames

‘Fore falling fellow fireleaves

Freely furnish floors

Sun gilt limbs glimmer

Holding our breath in their sway

Throat stuck words in clay

Behind this window

Truth lies, answering questions

That hide deep inside