February 2020 - II

Winter's in its final days
The sun has made its promised return
Headed north
soon past the equator

Daylight now past 6pm
Not long now till the equinox
Snow will come
and more high winds

The grass is brown
rustling horizontal
in the unceasing
gales of the northwest

Hailstones dance
in a fandango with the wind
but crows are nesting
and lambs will soon be here

As the days open out
the machair is empty
the roads derelict
the beaches waveswept

The Window on the West
is framing the setting sun
in a house now empty
of your voice but by memory

She who knows all
is awaiting patiently
in her forever home
for your promised return

Lengthening days

The day widens

in the land of trees

the bare branches smile

in the lengthening rays

The days broadens

in the far northwest

the lighthouse beckons

from the ancient rocks

Snow blankets still

the land of trees

frost paints

the expectant branches

Wind sweeps

in the ancient isles

clouds past the

ascending sun

Winter still holds

its firmest grip

yet the promise is there

for the coming spring

Green horizons

My horizon

is clad in green

and birds flutter

to rear their young

Flowers

of many colours

surround me

in this warmer spring

Time has marched on

even since wintertime

since I crossed

the two grey seas

Another sea

I shall yet cross

before I once more

wing my way northwest

March

March

came marching in

manes of white

flying above the clouds

March

dives down

into the

depths of winter

March

reaches up

towards the

highs of spring

March

gives life

and takes away some

as winter's left behind

March

innocently

bleats

into the new sun

March

ends winter

opens spring

in snow

Watching out

Watching out to the southeast
from where the ice cold wind
keeps coming to our shores
I'm waiting for the spring

Watching out to the northwest
from where change should come
eventually in days ahead
I'm waiting for the spring

Watching out to the southwest
now the silent quarter
no mild breezes for now
I'm waiting for the spring

Watching out to the northeast
where the distant mountains loom
clad in icy wintery white
I'm waiting for the spring

Watching out as days lengthen
new life stirring, yet to come
buds folded tight on trees
Spring is coming eventually

In spring

I met you on the rising road
that sunny afternoon in April
Innocent eyes looking up
as I looked down

The dark mountains loomed
over the deep waters
under the rays of the
springtime sun

A first spring with
gentle winds from
the distant seas
carrying aloft the shadows

Their calls mocked
at what they had taken
not caring, in fact
relishing and enjoying

She was expiring
as I approached
only a step or two
from the roadside edge

You did not know
but looked at me to explain
what was beyond your days
and was to befall you too

The sun shone through
the pink ears of the young lamb
The ewe was breathing its last
after being blinded by crows

The promise

As colour fades from the evening sky
A promise of renewal the next day
Whether sunny, cloudy, rain or snow
Colour will return another morn

The last leaf drifts down to earth
Nuts litter the woodland ground
A promise of renewal the next year
Life will return another day

Winter cold approaches from the north
As daylight hours diminish by the day
Soon white will dominate the land
Accentuating what colour is left

As snow blankets the sleeping soil
And fierce winds strafe the land
Green curtains flow in the distant north
And stars are seen for longer than the sun

But when winter's grasp seems fiercest
Unbreakable it would seem
Green tips pierce the frozen soil
And delicate blooms emerge

From underneath the warm white layer
The promise is fulfilled
And soon the winter cold takes flight
With light and colour restored

Eventually day and night equal in length
The snow retreats to the mountain tops
Life recurs, gambolling in play
As lambs fulfil the promise of life