Buttercups and Cow Parsley
Billowing golden
and frothed like a green bay
At sunset,
Beyond a storm-wracked day
There's a peace in this breeze
Though the broad green leaves
Have been ripped from the branches
Of sycamore trees
The Curlew calls
Wild, not free
Protecting her treasures
Like a shepherdess
Counting her blessings.
#poetry 

 The wind is wild enough
For the gulls to be sailing
There's joy in the air
Crows catch the edge of it
With long dark fingers.
A gliding Curlew
A babbling bubble
Calling across the meadow and
Racing with the breeze
Rain is falling
Somewhere between mist
And drizzle
Fine droplets
fly like pin tacks
Into my face
On my scouring descent.
#poetry 

 A weighty mist
All the way
To the sky
No hint of brightness
Even at my high point
All puddle and hiss
A soft breeze
from the south south east
Blows me to the top
It's grim
Theres nothing to be seen
Beauty lies
behind the shroud
But there she is
Even though the light is dim
She sings her heart out
Clear and proud
#poetry 

 Into the half-light
Half-night of an autumn morning
The sky billowing darkly,
As grey as the ocean
My shoes still wet
From yesterday's soaking
I promise myself
I would find a dry line.
I notice the way
The crows fall
upon the sacrifice
To careless haste
Descending
with careful reverence
Their black cackle
A prayer.
There's a flood
At the foot
Of the jangly hill
And I'm soaked to the skin
Again.
#poetry 

 Against the wind
Through the mist
And weather 
How much rain can
one sky hold?
All the streams
have broken loose
And wander
Deep and free
White froth
and brown boil.
New lakes intrude,
Silver and rippling
The scent of water
Earthy,
peat and stone
I'm pulled along
And caught up
Alive in the undertow
Of wild weather
Completely present
in the real world.
#poetry 

 The complicated business
Of riding into the wind
Noticing my vulnerability
And the wildness of the world
All of my power
Exerted on a 
Single point of failure.
Pawl finds its resistance
And we move forward
Or misses the point
And the world collapses
It's the missing
That hurts the most.
My head is full of ghosts
And the screaming gulls
On the edge of my dream
Crowd out my poem
With their empty promises.
#poetry 

 There's something wild
about the air
Dark and forbidding
Cloud lowering
Hunkered down
The valley in cloud-shadow
The loud song of the wind
Crows hang on the edge
Ragged and raucous
Joy in their tumbling
And here, by the gate
I can see for miles
The world is wide
and waiting.
#poetry 

 Haunted by the music of summer
Even in the low growl
Of the autumn breeze
Even as the tiny darts
Of rain at speed
Pepper my face
And mark mad marching rhythms
On my wet jacket
My friend is a Raven
With a will as strong
as steel.
Head into the wind
Thread your way through it
There is always a way,
Even if you have to go back
To go on.
#poetry 

 These misty autumn moors are
full of kindly ghosts
Joyful larks and Swallows
careful lapwing,
Mournful curlew, 
I hear them still,
They fill the space
beyond the quiet air
Today the sky is low
The wind hushes softly
through the walls
And up above,
beyond the quiet
Ticking of the wren 
I hear the sounds
of wild geese calling
#poetry 

 October sky
Heavy cloud
Hanging low, 
Darkening
Slowly swirling
Ox eye daisies
smiling back
The green hill shining
Black rooks
cackle and grunt
Gowned professors
Studying their ground
Wild-eyed lords
Dancing on the beaded green
And hurtling from sycamores
Like loons.
As goldfinches
In droopy thistles
Tinkle happy tunes
#poetry 

 Ethereal light
The sounds of wild geese calling
Seeing with my ears
There's a warmth
To be found
At the edge of things
The faint friction
of barely touching.
The sound of hello
Seems so far away.
Gruff riders compete
Racing away to the top of the hill
Me, I'm happy enough,
looking for owls.
#poetry 

 A storm charged sky
Yesterday is in my heart
Its dark and early
But there's something about 
The early light
I know that you are there
And I know that I will find you
Beautiful
Ivory-shining
Dancing to the music 
Of the western wind
Hunting
So close I could touch you
Your fearless eyes meet mine
Dark and bold
Away, soft and low
Beneath the air
Beyond the earth
Something other
Beyond my knowing
#poetry 

 Look
A red Robin
in the hawthorn
Quiet, and questioning.
Where is your joy,
Not here?
Not now?
In the still silver
Of a perfect autumn morning,
Pale bronze in the east, 
Pastels of blue,
The music of geese
Floats over the water
The old gold
in the hearts
of your daisies
Glowing
I carry it with me
Into the day
#poetry 

 A lofty eagle
turns the great circle
Patient and noble
Feeling his way
to the highest plane
Holding his weight
With lightness and ease
In his arms of his wings
Lifted by the flow
Of lighter airs, rising,
And the gentle breath
Of a soft western breeze
An early morning sun
Breaks open the sky
Lighting the sea
with silver glitter
And into the brightness
The dark eagle flies.
#poetry 

 Warm and blue
Scents of thyme
Lavender and rosemary
Ravens above
Bright with silver
Shining
A falcon climbing
on a roiling thermal
Rough ground
Rock and thorn
There's no softness here
The shimmering heat of high noon
Grinds me down
Like the chain in my cogs
On the impossible hill
#poetry 

 Still and silent
Heavy with vapour
A weight of fog
For a moment,
It feels like it might brighten.
The last of the Swallows
Are gathered by the barn
Chattering with wild abandon
Free to do as they please
In the mist of forgiveness
The daisies are hiding
Shy petals furled like fingers
Hiding their golden hearts
I love days like these
Where the beauty is hidden,
When everything is on the brink
And glory feels as if 
It's just around the next corner
#poetry 

 Out
into the dewdropped
Raindropped, mist-muddled
Brown-puddled, owl-screeched
Damp
of an autumn morning
Pipits whistle
In the grey-heavy
Low-slung weight
of the cloud-roof
Sitting on my shoulder.
There's a moaning, fluting
Low note
floating down the hillside
Coming from the inside
Down through the bones
of the earth
Like the sound of a mountain
Crying.
And by dark walls
The ditches full of lilac daisies
Shining.
#poetry 

 Clear and bright
On top of the world
I can see for miles and miles
Autumn thrushes
Up from the woods
And rosehips shine
Like rubies bright
Gorse glows gold
In the low morning sun
And the grass
is white with dew
Revealing the way
The hare has been
In the deep
of an owl-dark night
#poetry 

 Northeasterly
Clear and bright
I'm on the top of the world
I can see for miles
Autumn thrushes
are up from the woods
And rosehips shine
Like bright rubies
Gorse glows gold
In the low morning sun
And the grass
is white with dew
Revealing the way
The hare has been
In the deep
of an owl-dark night.
#poetry 

 Kintzugi
Echoes of a glorious sunset
Still somehow present
The lilac-white dome
Of this mist-hazy morning
Fractured in the east
by the rising sun
Faint golden edges
Revealing hidden layers
In a sky more beautiful
For its brokenness.
The gold of the gorse
Lighting the heather
Where a ticking wren
Curtseys like a Dipper
In a purple stream.
A dark butterfly
Rises from a thistle
Like a line 
from a forgotten poem
#poetry