For dverse.
Defining
Shadows, the obverse of light,
light, the glow, darting shafts, golden swell of the sun,
sun, radiance in the dark,
dark, the sifted debris of day,
day, the rising from the ashes of night,
night, the mantle of space, embroidered with stars,
stars, the crucibled origin of fire,
fire, thirsty tongues that lap up the shadows.
Ripples
Shadows grow
slow and long
songs sing
wings beat
heat pours
soars the bird
word speaks
beaks jab
grab and stab
dab the fish
a-swish in the shallows
hallow this glade
made of shadows.
The shadows’ seasons
Is there a form in that clustered darkness
the shape of light before, behind?
Does it grow, stalk cut-throat close to the wall,
or shrink, burdened with the weight of age?
Do roses clamber, apples swell, sweet and ripe,
where is lies dense as fog and ignorance?
I see no pulse of life in that grey,
no bees feed, birds nest, no children play,
and the old folk draw their chairs into the sun,
move the plants to a sunny sill,
shun the gathering cold, the touch of winter.
The Four Swans 