Aerial Combat (2024)

I sat in the garden this morning,

Long after the new day was dawning,

But my timing sublime,

Something up in the sky,

A drama that Nature was drawing:

Bird of prey that was mobbed by a crow,

Full two minutes I watched them go.

Wheeling and striking,

Reflexes like lightning,

Ah me, I do love them so.

So I Googled the internet 

And researched bird of prey silhouettes;

The crow was the bigger

And that was the trigger;

I know that I'll never forget.

Not the peregrine that I had dreamed

But a sparrowhawk my eyes had gleaned

In a white empty sky

And oh me and oh my,

What a wonderful sight I had seen.

A Poem - Harvest Mouse (2024)

Thou weightless puissant climber of the wheat,

With skill, daring,  opposable feet,

To grip the stem most firmly but what's this?

Prehensile tail to curl around stems crisp.

Your hind legs and your tail hold ye fast,

Freeing up your tiny hands; tight grasp

The seeds and insects that you gleeful eat,

Thou beautiful amongst the rustling wheat.

A Sonnet - Heartbreak (2024)

Oh my soul and oh my mind!

I wish that fearsome wild beasts kind

Would feast upon my heart unkind;

Tear up the pulp, tear up the rind.

I gaze upon my mirror soul.

It mocks me saying, ‘two halves whole’,

What crippling torment is this?

My heart's blood gouts, my brain a-fizz

With remonstrations and regret

And misery which pays a debt

Of hatred that my mind begets;

A madness casting heavy nets

Of loathing at my very core;

I quake, I could not love you more. 

A Poem - Banshee {2024)

Ah! what cry pierces the night,

Turning my marrow to a wight's

Calling, calling.

Clad in green and grey

Whilst I live she will not stay

Her prophetic wailing, wailing.

A doom is layed upon me,

A doom I cannot shake,

Would that a fierce heart beating 

Her malice would slake.

A half-moon is sailing, sailing.

Ah! What cry pierces the night,

I am falling, falling!

A Poem - Cuckoo (2024)

Call in the Springtide;

Oh cuckoo.

Oh won't you bring my

Cuckoo, cuckoo,

Spirits lifted,

Cuckoo, cuckoo.

The seasons shifted,

Cuckoo, cuckoo.

Morning mist lifted,

Cuckoo, cuckoo,

In my singing breast.

A Poem - Spring (2024)

Oh hail to thee oh Springtide -

A fire rusheth in -

My spirit looketh to the East,

A balm upon my brow uncreased,

The rising sun held in my eyes,

A fire lit by fire skies.

Wallowing in the sunbeam rays.

The birthing sun held in my gaze.

Hail to thee oh Springtide -

Oh desire rusheth in.

Fail not to bring my

Spirits that are kin,

To calm and blessèd peacefulness -

My spirit looketh to the West.

Following the sunbeam rays,

The setting sun held in my gaze.

A Poem - House Martin (2024)

Soaring, banking ever speedy,

Insects ne'er knew one so greedy,

'I gather many in my crop

Until it's filled I'll never stop.'

Then back to nest under the eaves,

Insatiability thus I feed;

I am a master of the buffeting air,

Come midge, come gnat, come all that dare!'

A Poem - Brock the Badger (2024)

Brock the badger rootles round,

Churning up the loamy ground,

'A worm, a root and many more

I gobble them down;

I'm omnivore,

Slugs and spiders,

Worms and roots.

There’s nothing tasty

I refuse.'

Brock the badger rootles round

Gobbling everything that's found.

A Poem - Wren (2024)

Flutters of tiny wings

Are seen,

Amongst the trees and bushes green,

'Tis a sin to kill a wren they say,

Save in Ireland 

On Saint Stephen's Day.

Saint Stephen

Did the wren betray,

Or so the learned scholars say.

The saint pursued by wicked men,

Gaze drawn in by the

Frolicsome wren.

Drawn in towards his hiding place,

Where hid the saint all full of grace.

The Saint a martyr thus became,

The sons of Ireland lay the blame

Upon the tiny wren, the same

Who made a martyr

So they claim.