Hiort - 1

Decrescent
the moon shines
reemerged
from its occultation

Like a crescent
the sandy bay
lies circled
by tallest cliffs

Like a frond of lace
the surf laps ashore
None remain where
the Book opens at Exodus

Only the birds fly
the dark sheep roam
the military watch
far out there

Equinox 2015

As night and day
shake hands
this autumnal
equinox

The leaves tremble
as ocean winds
seek to tear them
off their tree

Long gone
are the light summer nights
long ahead
are the dark winter days

The starlings
in their murmurating millions
have flocked south
ahead of the stately goose

From the Pole
darkness
will now march
steadily south

Whether in golden sun
or screaming storms
autumn is here
as the year declines

Autumn falls

The barometer dips
a few millibars further
The sun dips
imperceptibly lower

A calmness descends
from the frenzy
and bustle
of summer

Clouds laze
at groundlevel
Or exceed the speedlimit
high high above

Leaves cutting
loose
from the trees
they once fed

Birds gather
anxiously
frittering
in huge flocks

The mercury
heads down
generally making for
zero

Night conquers day
the moon rises higher
The aurora swings
its green curtains north

Orion begins
his march
across
the freezing sky

Autumn falls
like the leaves that drop
Winter looms
in the morning dark

Equinox

Another eclipse
shines over southern ice
Another equinox
looms a week away

The wind rises
for an all night blow
The first of many
a winter's gale

Three hours down
morn and night
The day shorten
the night is now dark

The merry dancers
flick the northern sky
in place of the
midnight glim

As the mercury shivers
to the bottom of teens
As the wind buffets
irreverendly

Summer is leaving
It's been brief
Winter is looming
not long to go

Somme

Did you march

that summer's day

Did you sail

across the Channel

Were you among

those never

to have passed

beyond the lighthouse?

Did you answer

the call to duty

the irrefusable

appeal from the King

Was it the last time

you saw the hills

of your native island

sink behind the waves?

Did they find you,

were you among

the luckiest

of unlucky?

Were you not

one of those

lost in a field

now part of it

So many

left these shores

for another shore

never to return

The hundred years

passing slowly

the centenary

goes on

We remember them

Lost at sea or on land

lost in mind

We remember them

Autumn

Slowly the night draws in
to meet the day
at the going out
of summer

A coolness tending
towards the chilly
colours creeping
into the leaves

The frantic rush of summer
calming down towards
the limpid calm
of an early autumn day

The sun moves west
reflecting brightly
in motionless
water

Windows on the west
at equinox time
Windows on the east
a September morn

The last midge bites
the first autumn storm
looms in the near future
Autumn is here

Sanctuary

Silence
reigns
over the
darkening sea

The nunnery empty
on the distant isle
cowering
in the fast flowing channel

What is wind to us
becomes a storm
whispers
turn to shouts

The sanctuary
amidst old stone walls
stands strong
and will abide