AUTUMN LEAVES ARE GATHERING

 

Autumn leaves are gathering

Golden in the hedgerows

As the sun sits lower in the sky

Shadows lengthen across the landscape

Heralding winters approach

CHRISTMAS STAR

 

The Christmas star

Festively untypical

Having poisonous milk

And being tropical

But scarlet petal-like leaves

Make them appear more topical

And star shaped flowers

Are more decoratively typical

NATURAL MUSIC

Bird song abounds like a symphony

Scripted by natures unseen composer

Conducted by the baton of an invisible maestro

The shrill woodwinds

Of Blackbirds, Finches, Thrush and the Tit family

While the Cuckoo sets the time

And a Woodpecker beats a rhythm

The breeze moves the leafy canopy

Like vibrant cascading strings

Timber’s creek and strain adding percussion

Rutting Stags and distant plaintive cries

A Fox cry and a Peacock’s call

Waterfowl and cooing Doves

Underscored by the beating wings of birds in flight

Insects join the improvised symphony

Droning Bees and Dragonfly

A symbol crash as a Duck enters the water

A waterfall adds the rolling kettle drum

Distant thunder booms like a bass drum

And Xylophonic drops of rain hit the lake

While a Swan gracefully dances

Across the water in perfect harmony

God in heaven the impresario

Of mother nature’s philharmonic company

 

THE SURREY HILLS

 

I walked along a hill top path

With my old dog Jake

Beneath a cloudless sky of azure blue

The path led us into a sparsely wooden copse

Its leafy canopy defused the strong sun

And provided welcome shade

I decided to rest a while in the cool shadows

I slipped off my back pack

And sat against a trees trunk

I wiped the sweat from my brow

Before taking a bottle from my pack

I poured water into a bowl for Jake

And took a generous swallow for myself

Then I lit my pipe and relaxed

In an aromatic cloud and enjoyed the scene

Specks of sunlight dappled the ground

And midges danced around the sunbeams

As Jake chased the shadows

The time came to move along

And we followed the path back into the sun

And onward along the ridge

After a long slow crawl up the ever steepening path

We reached the summit and were duly rewarded

To see the countryside stretching far to the south

Spread like a great patchwork quilt

This perfect view from the Surrey hills

PEBBLES SMOOTH

 

Pebbles smooth,

Like crude glass

Smoothed by nature

Time and tide

Its patterned form

Marbled in style

Sits comfortably

In the fingers

To be skimmed

Back to the ocean

 

VOLCANOES ARE TERRIFYING

 

Volcanoes are terrifying

Just the thought of them is frightful

But pyroclastic eruptions

That’s just Nature at its most spiteful

IN THE WATER MEADOW

 

In the water meadow

The Mayflies pirouette

On gossamer wings.

A pair performs a duet

As they dance their

Ephemeral vignette