211

two swans behind mist
a fox quick stoops fallen tree
deer in field's middle
climbing uphill stick in hand
the lonely ways of winter

210

eastwood greeting in
feathers a life in needles
no eyes no gods - gone

209

in eastwood again
flightless pigeon awaits death
our eyes meet - no gods

208 derelict honeyhall

honey beech arching pond
heron flies when i visit
towards hillside ruin

207

i am just walking
but pigeons applaud each step
through wood and sunlight

206

a month of dusk, rain
makes sky grey and land dark, bare
trees falling silent

205

year on still apples
pass between us at woods edge
often buzzards call

204 banjo returns

behind you ice grass
before you lush summers growth
we toast with apple

203

fox scratching in wind
waving through bracken and pine
unconcerned kinship

202 caterans

we stole sky heather
hills stashed in our hiker souls
bound for horizons

201 rehearsals

cockerels take turns
to call from fence  - lying sheep
half listen half sleep

200

how high the sky how
deep the sea how long a life
of shadows and light

199 chapel farm

now the cows have gone
field trees stand like hauntings as
time returns silence

198 kirkforthar healing

after the felling
birch sway in clouds and bird call
earths resilence

197

we gather as ghosts
peering into each new dawn
always seeking home

196

stillness in the woods
barest tilt of heads shadow
deer spectre man cross

195

fallen into sea
of self a vanity surf
far from peaceful shores

194 us

we must come to look
in each others eyes  - goodbyes
lie there deep as sea

193

hedgerow with purpose
framing fields as clouds do sky
i drift by like smoke

192 pigs

wide blue summer sky
schumachers tractor tows pigs
screaming around bends
screaming through potholes screaming
that echoes along the road

191

for all our searching
awake we see dying worlds
asleep only dreams

(heraclitus)

190

the road and houses
disappear into lark song
up hill towards sky

189 diogenes

hark the mouse shames me
content at my crumbs - fools live
for money and rank

188

fields to summer sky
showered by spumes of swallows
a dance a dreaming

187 penny

if i was to die
into your heart i would fly
everything same as!

186

still awake at three
heart half crazed with homelessness
each side an abyss

185

each night deer creep through
conifers from bare hillsides
to taste sweet pasture

184

here is hail and sun
many lands under many
skies sweeping onwards

183 india, china, countless unknown

can you believe girls
are left to die for a son
unborn - our dark world

182

i thirst for the truth
but return for bitterness
each day in the world

181 in the lomonds

my hare criss crossing
our field he's brown and dark brown
i wish our freedom

180

gathering comforts
for me from you a hoarding
against the stillness

179 bare

something hides in us
beyond reason and recall
naked animal
deaf to words blind to gesture
wild with sky alive with sun

178 curlew

curlew pours out pearls
an unbearable beauty
makes this field heaven

177 on the way back down e lomond

badger unblemished
but dead, car flung into brook
water trickling by

176 here is not home

new lamb by dead tree
all around us empty fields
you bleat we helpless
i dont understand your words
and old dog just walks
on with me and my concerns
later i return
steeled for rescue so gallant
there you lie in sun
i presumed death but you move
this time we just stare
all around us empty fields
on with my mission
the farmer lady
reeked a bemused non concern
my man is busy
killing she gestures to barns
where deer dance circles
in twilight of days moving
towards the farmers
deranged busy season her
dead eyes catch my eyes
realising betrayal
to the enemy
i hurry stumble away
to the blessing of
empty fields all around me
may you die by moon
light under ten thousand stars

175 banjo

at winters end we
end apples and moons vanish
for a sweetheart spring

174 briefly

retail park gulls, rooks
shower our concrete desires
with seascape, woodland.

173

horse overwinters
on frosted grass patient for spring
befriending full moons

172 looking up

golden shadow limbs
beech tree in winter blue sky
feels like a cliff edge

171 winter sea

samsara horses
jumping to shore manes whipping
at our emptiness

170

walking unravels
my ageing sickness and death
same if i sit still

169

sleeps restless waters
our ghost ships pitch and turn - one
more brightening dawn?

168

grouse oi chuckled me
up into snowy dawn air
a glint of pink sky

167

moments of sky fall
one shared cloak - man and dog walk
snowy skeletons