Poetry Archive

Just a Night Away

Bees in the last of the cherry blossom
Droning to the tune of a lullaby
Hummed to the rhythm of a prams movement
Wherein a child's bright eyes are still too wide
To see the music pass into silence

Silent walkers alone and together
Wrapped up in red sunshine and green growing
Smiling in the late sun's warmth
While a raven watches newly hatched robins
Learning to fly and to hide from him

Nest high in the oak the magpies' squawk
Loud and dominant until the raven passes by
They scatter like starlings across
The wildness of long grass before the first cut
Still wet from endless rains

No lawnmowers or stereos spoil this sunset
Only birds sing here as I turn home
The hammock frame sits unused waiting for tomorrow
For blue not grey and light that swallows shadows
Waiting for a warm dry day just a night away