Armistice

For the second day, my grandfather clock chimes eleven discordantly with the deeper, more sonorous notes of Big Ben.

For the second day, I notice mild irritation in my mind, and for the second time it is followed by a wry smile -  as my heart recognises the way discord only seems appropriate ...

Taraloka haikus October 2023

Tuesday

Halted for a while

beneath the whispering tree *

pilgrim soul am I

(*aspen tremulens)

Wednesday

6.30am

Taraloka bell

rain spatters the skylight, and

I turn to the wall

Thursday

Ah, life! wanting things 

to be other than they are

- unaccountable heart

Friday

I'm watching a wren

living its huge, bustling life

in my little world

Saturday

All night the rain fell

and the morning world is dark

- my wild heart singing

Morning

Only the moment-

red kite hangs in hazy blue

sky and sea dissolve

Solstice haiku

Midsummer grasses

honeysuckle through the breeze

my dusty footsteps

Taraloka dawn

Heard the cuckoo call

sunlight on mist-drenched meadows

silent blessings fall

1 December 2022

So. The bone-hard knuckle-end of autumn turns to stone- 

hard winter waits snarling in its lair

Yet. The petal-yellow gorse lies soft on my fingers-

 robin chitter-chatters from the hedge

and the bluest sea and sky meet in shimmering hope

Untitled

I pick my way over the rocks

more carefully now

than the child I can still hear

behind me

who ran heedlessly

wind and salt in her hair

across the fern-warm

seagull-calling cliffs

Ahead of me

I glimpse the crone

staff in hand

facing the unchanging horizon

a pocketful of mumbles

such are promises...

But for now the present

moment

is wild enough

dog at my feet

is wild enough

I taste with pleasure

the seasalt breeze

as our walk

turns us home