A Particular Loss

When darkness comes our world shrinks,
If sight shapes our boundaries;
When the soul finds it is trapped
In winter, where Spring is just hope
Waiting is cold endurance.
There will be rebirth, faith will bring answers,
But idling, hoping, wondering, trying 
To be cheerful while a new way is found,
In the bleakness of emptiness,
In a place where security is no more,
Creates quick sands on the beach.

Early morning at Foxton Locks

Nature

Tawny amongst green

A fox scouts prey in the kale,

Above, buzzards watch.

Finding Balance

As the miles pass so do the clouds,
The pain of humiliation eases;
My soul's bruises shrivel as stories
Of world horror replace them.
A paper bought to pass the time
Brings equilibrium, shrinking
The relevance of those
   Who did not dare

Who kept silent
           Who wouldn't commit.
The train moves towards the hills.

Dartmoor Gorse

Granite

The grooves are still there, 
Pressed into the granite by weight:
The weight of transporting granite.
The old tramway is gone now
The mine's emptiness has filled,
Water seeping into the vacuum
Making an unlikely pond, leaving
Dartmoor's history in a groove.

Rocks resist man, remain aloof,
Impregnable til greater forces
throw them asunder, swallowing
Villages in their volcanic thrust,
Reminding man of his insignificance.
When nature ravages and storms,
We are cast aside or enveloped.

Rosebay Willowherb

The mauve-pink army

stand straight beside the river,

spears waiting for charge.

Kimpton in August

Detail of a Dragonfly's wing

New Zealand

Nelson Cathedral

There's music in my soul

but not in my fingers

There's music in my voice

but not in my timing.

2000 organ pipes

Packed with care

Shipped as freight

London to Nelson

145 years ago.

I itch to hear them 

Breathe the notes to life

But not by me

It must transcend

Not irritate!

Internally I'll sing my thanks,

To share but just with God.

Pancake Rocks

Waves like the Furies

Attack the limestone endlessly 

Slamming, spraying their fury.

The rocks endure

Patiently marvelling

As their forms are reshaped,

Holes appear and arches

Curves, ridges, stacks,

Elegance now rather than mass.

Withstanding the tumult

Has brought beauty.

May Butterfly Discoveries

                                                                     
                   A Green hairstreak seen near Ivinghoe Beacon

                                         
                   A Duke of Burgundy seen near Ivinghoe Beacon

Dartmoor dawn and day