Uncanny Tales – (046) The April Showers

 

The lightning struck, intensely bright, followed in almost the same instance by the thunderclap directly overhead, so loud that it shook the car and then the rain began and fell heavily in large drops beating a frantic tune on the car roof, then almost as quickly as the dark skies arrived, they were gone and the sun was out again, although it was a few moments before the April shower stopped completely and a rainbow appeared in the sky.

We were parked by the village green, which was patterned with strips of freshly cut grass and when we got out of the car the mixture of sun, rain and cut grass produced a smell that was quite intoxicating.

We locked the car and headed down the lane and as if the switch on a great sound system had been flicked on, the bird life in the trees bordering the green exploded into a cacophony of sound as they emerged from their shelters to go about their spring business.

We turned off the lane into the woods where nature and man had both left their mark.

The areas that had once been coppiced or pollarded now went their own way and the woods were full of life.

On the borders of the woods the old cut and lay hedge and the ancient hedgerows along the lanes teamed with a great abundance of life of all kinds.

A sobering reflection on this idyllic scene is that all the visible life was either predator or prey but that did not detract from its beauty in fact it enhanced it if anything.

However, the skies darkened again, and the rain started to fall and we had to make a dash for the car, but by the time we reached the car we were soaked to the skin and we quickly scrabbled into the car as if fearful we would get even wetter if indeed that were even possible.

Just as I closed the door the lightning struck again and then the thunder shook the car violently once more.

What a wonderful and remarkable time spring is wherever you are but in the British Isles the unpredictability transforms, almost in a heartbeat, from tranquility to chaos and back again, and you know I don’t think I would want to live anywhere else.

REAWAKENED

 

Nature Reawakened

As The Long Winter Dies

Naked Boughs Are Dressed

Spring Causing Sap To Rise

The Resounding Birdsong

Fills Again The April Sky’s

And The Warming Earth

Releases Daff’s And Narcissi’s

MORNING GLORY

 

It was in the bright spring morn

The birds awoke at crack of dawn

Though the light was still dim

They hop twixt branch and limb

Day begins with the dawn chorus

And starts the day for all of us

SPRING IS SPRUNG

 

Hallelujah

Its spring again

With warm sunshine

In between showers of rain

 

Hallelujah

The spring is here

It’s such a joy

All at once the senses clear

 

Hallelujah

Spring has begun

New life everywhere

All at once cobwebs are gone

 

Hallelujah

Its spring once more

This one is better

Than the one we had before

 

Hallelujah

Its spring again

Not so clever

When you’re caught in the rain

 

Hallelujah

The springs nearly over

Bloody showers

Still it will soon be summer

OLD WATER

Why does mineral water?

That started in the mountains

As melting snow and ice

Feeding streams and fountains

And has trickled through

Granite rock and slate

For countless centuries

Need to have a 'use by' date?

THE HEDGEHOG CULL

 

The campaigners have won

The Hedgehog cull won’t be done

They argued it shouldn’t go ahead

It was just wrong they said

Saying they were un putdown-able

I think they are just un pickup-able

BUTTERFLIES FLUTTER BY # 2

Butterflies flutter by

On pale Cabbage white wings,

Heralds of beauty

RUNNYMEDE

 

I sit in the green and pleasant corner of this land known as Runnymede where the Thames laps its way ever closer to London.

Trees line the river’s edge and the Willows that stand weeping into the river might well be weeping for what man has done to the land.

For this place though beautiful still was once more so.

The senses cannot fail to notice man’s hand, the ears are assailed by the constant hum of motorway traffic and by jets arriving and departing Heathrow and the nostrils are filled with the stench of aviation fuel.

The area is littered with inappropriate buildings and roads of every type scar the land.

On the river the surface of the water bares the tell-tale rainbow pattern of patches of fuel slick and at its edge the 21^st century flotsam of tin cans, McDonald’s wrappers, fag ends and paper cups.

If King John, who under pressure from his barons signed the Magna Carta here in 1215, was to stand here now and see what we have done he might well fall upon his own sword.

THIS TALK OF CULLING BADGERS

 

This talk of culling badgers

Is completely unsound

If we keep discussing it

We’ll drive them underground

BUTTERFLIES FLUTTER BY # 1

 

Butterflies flutter by

In Magnolia melancholy

On gossamer wings

SNAIL PACE

 

To go faster had always been

The snail’s greatest wish

So, he took his shell off

But it just made him Sluggish

HARBINGER OF SPRING

 

What wonderful weather at the weekend it was so nice after the long winter, although it probably seemed longer that it was because we had no summer last year.

Anyway, the weather was so nice that I left my wife in bed reading the Sundays and I took a walk arround the village.

As I enjoyed the warm spring sunshine, I noticed the many harbingers of the season such as the daffodils nodding in the breeze, birdsong everywhere and endless parades of cyclists punctuated only by cars towing caravans.

 

After a couple of hours, I headed towards home but then thought I might have a cool beer at the village pub.

Once there I had to negotiate my way through piles of mounting bikes and was then greeted by the scene of a packed beer garden full of people showing far too much white flesh.

So, I decided to give it a miss and went home instead but when I entered my house I discovered that the lodger had entered my wife more than once by the look of them and I was immediately struck with the thought that this must be the first cuckold of spring.

THE GREEN SEASON

 

Abundant rain

And warm sunshine

Paints the landscape afresh

Replacing the drabness

Of greys and browns

When the greens appear

In their infinite variety

Nature’s pallet used abundantly

Greens of every hue and shade

Fields of luscious green grasses

Trees speckled with bright buds

Like a vivid rash

Against brown limbs

Hedgerows sprout into life

While bulbs push through

The contrasting earth

Everywhere awash with viridity

Only in spring

Can the same colour

Appear in so many guises

So many variations

A veritable myriad

Across the spectrum

From dark olive to bright lime

Drab khaki to exotic emerald

Shades vivid and vibrant

And all this is but a pre cursor

Preparing the senses

For the coming

Explosion of colour

SPRINGTIME IN THE WOOD

 

Though winter snow still lies

In the wood’s bluebells grow

Appearing like sapphire jewels

Through the thawing snow

SPRING IS SPRUNG

 

Hallelujah

Its spring again

With warm sunshine

In between showers of rain

 

Hallelujah

The spring is here

It’s such a joy

All at once the senses clear

 

Hallelujah

Spring has begun

New life everywhere

All at once cobwebs are gone

 

Hallelujah

Its spring once more

This one is better

Than the one we had before

 

Hallelujah

Its spring again

Not so clever

When you’re caught in the rain

 

Hallelujah

The springs nearly over

Bloody showers

Still it will soon be summer

MORNING GLORY

It was in the bright spring morn

The birds awoke at crack of dawn

Though the light was still dim

They hop twixt branch and limb

Day begins with the dawn chorus

And starts the day for all of us

OLD WATER

 

Why does mineral water?

That Started in the mountains

As melting snow and ice

Feeding streams and fountains

And has trickled through

Granite rock and slate

For countless centuries

Need to have a 'use by' date?

BLUEBELLS IN THE WOOD

 

Bluebells in the wood

Sway in the dappled shade

To the tune of Spring

REAWAKENED

 

Nature Reawakened

As The Long Winter Dies

Naked Boughs Are Dressed

Spring Causing Sap To Rise

The Resounding Birdsong

Fills Again The April Sky’s

And The Warming Earth

Releases Daff’s And Narcissi’s

REBORN

 

Mountain snows thawing

Swollen rivers causing

Nature dormant awakening

New life into breathing

Sprouting shoots arriving

Early cherry blossoming

Annual event occurring

Life’s cycle repeating

Springtime refreshing

Simple senses pleasing

God’s design believing

THE SNOW QUEEN

 

The Snow Queen Banished

To Slumber Again Unseen

As Mother Nature Paints

Again, The Landscape Green

DARK DAYS OF WINTER

     

Stinging sleet on north winds blow

Biting wind brings driving snow

Freezing fog with bitter chill

Frost and ice over vale and hill

Long cold nights and short dark days

These are winters unfriendly ways

A WINTER NIGHT

 

Like a ribbon that's spun

Of the purest of silk,

The road crossed the cold bleak dale

It appeared that the frost

On the wintry panes

Was embossed with images from beyond the pale

And the winter-sky, 

Lit with the moon and the stars,

Made the icicles glow in the night-

And the beauty of all

Of that December view

Was perceived in the essence of light-

And deceived by the soft...firelight.

THROUGH FROSTED GLASS

 

The sheltered lowlands

In valleys by the acre

Dusted white as if

Sugared by a cake decorator

A picturesque fairyland

A scene of pure delight

Viewed through a window

You avoid the winter’s bite

Trees stripped bare

Dressed now in ice and frost

Shiver in the wind

Longing for the summer lost

WINTER WHITE

 

Snow falling softly - silently

Covered landscapes - evenly

Turning darkness into light

Shrouded in clinical white

Days of blue sky’s bright

Clear frost filled night

WINTER

 

Standing in the hushed silence

Breath pluming in the frost filled air

Beneath the deep velvet blue of the night sky

Broken only by the myriad of glistening stars

My futile thoughts are lost in its enormity

I’m suddenly startled by my own insignificance

I feel alone, hopeless, and helpless 

A bitter chill touches my bones

I walk on over the linen shrouded land

Footsteps treading crisply in the white

My breath still plumes though less so

The velvet curtain of night has gone

Hidden behind grey, brown clouds

Then the cold frosty night was no more

As the wind freshens against my cheek

And in that instant fresh snow falls

Seemingly silencing my footfalls  

Large soft flakes drifting haphazardly

Like confetti on a wedding day

Or cherry blossom in springtime

It fell faster, then faster still

Quickly obscuring my footprints

And blinding my view, disorienting

A bitter chill again touched my bones

The wind now stung my face with snow

As the blizzard of bridle white blew

I bent into the northerly gale

Head down eyes narrowed almost closed

I stopped briefly to catch my breath

Insignificance washed over me again

I knew I must go north into the mouth of it

The silent hush was no more as the blizzard blew

My feet no longer crunched on frost and ice

The deepening snow slowing my progress

Each step I must drag my feet from the snows grip

With each step I grow wearier

Feeling hopeless and helpless

Alone, insignificant, and small,

Smaller than a single snowflake

Smaller than the snowflakes around me

A bitter chill again touched my bones

Then suddenly I am again filled with hope

As I pass between the old wrought iron gates

Into the city street beyond and home

WEAR SOMETHING WHITE

Please wear something white at night

That’s what we were told was right

But just you take care when it snows

And take advice from one who knows

I still get the flashbacks even now

From when I got hit by a snow plough

WHITE NIGHT

Like a ribbon of pure white silk

The road crossed the dale

Frost coated the window pains

While the moonlight bathed the vale

 

Under the star filled winter sky

Icicles are illuminated by moonlight

The stark beauty of the landscape

Is best viewed in the glow of the firelight    

SPRING RAIN IS POURING

Spring rain is pouring

Battered blossoms falling

Pink snow is lying

IN SPRINGTIME

 

In springtime

I walk in dappled shade

Down along

A woodland brook

Where Narcissi grow

And bow their heads

In deference

To the singing stream

LEAVING WINTERS SHADOW

 

When we come out

Of winters shadow

And it’s finally spring

There is fire in my heart.

And a lightness in my step

And the world seems full

Of infinite possibilities

LITTLE BIRD BRING TO US

 

Little bird bring to us

Your sweet song

Bring it cheerily

With the spring

To the woodland

And to the meadow

And with your

Sweet melody

Usher in another

Blessed summer