Treasure
set free
from the pages of an old notebook.
Author: Sarah
I really should be working
The sun streams onto my desk
distracting me with an open invitation.
I wander outside into the crisp
freshness of September
(I really should be working)
air cool, sun warm,
what a delicious combination.
I stroll, and admire the flowers.
This year’s robins practice their trills
and chase each other around the garden
(I should be working, really)
Dewy cobwebs sparkle.
The Chinese lanterns glow
like orange setting suns.
(Should I really be working?)
I have all the time in the world
to work,
long years of it left,
but this one moment of early autumn,
this particular combination of weather
and flowers and birdsong
will never happen again in
exactly the same way.
So I savour it.
Into the darkness
September, and
the nights are drawing in.
Long summer evenings seem
a distant memory.
In the house,
once the lights go on
the world outside seems
so dark,
so uninviting.
–
But it’s still there,
still waiting.
–
Tonight, I venture out,
stumbling until my eyes
grow accustomed to
shades of darkness.
A glow in the west
from the sun, long set,
faintly illuminating
a pale mackeral sky.
Clouds like ripples in sand,
and behind them
faint twinkling stars
guiding me to the north
and the beauty of the night
Castle ruins
The cry of a gull connects
the centuries.
Five metres and four hundred years
above my head
a fire blazes in the grate
warming the cold stone
of a floor that no longer exists.
Mull of Galloway
Savouring the end of summer
among the last blooms of
thrift and sea campion,
the cries of unseen kittiwakes,
clouds of swallows and martins
and the arrow-straight splashing dives of gannets.
It’s that time of year when every bit of warm sunshine is savoured. The air is cooler now, the wind is blowing from the north, but out of the wind the sun is still hot. We sat in the sun on the Mull of Galloway, sharing the end of summer with the birds. Soon they will be leaving, the kittiwakes out to sea, the swallows, house martins and gannets heading south for warmer climes. A day to remember, sunshine,warmth and memories to light us through the winter darkness ahead.
A walk in the rain
Ghostly pine trees,
hilltops lost in mist,
lake reflecting grey.
Drizzle,
then rain in sheets
scudding across the water.
Sweating in waterproofs
with leaky boots,
step by step
we are rinsed,
refreshed,
washed clean,
revitalised.
Twilight practice
I used to worry.
What will the neighbours think
if I do tai chi in the garden?
This summer I tried it.
What a gift,
being present outdoors
at the end of the day.
Robins, blackbirds,
the wind in the trees,
flowers, bats, hedgehogs, owls,
the moon, clouds, rain,
the setting sun,
a scattering of stars,
mars, even saturn
have been part of my practice this summer.
Who cares what the neighbours think!
