Every day the sheep get up
And ruminate some more
Today it’s rain, the next day sun
But always grass galore
It’s grass for breakfast, lunch and tea
And grass for in between
How do they keep their coats so white
When all they eat is green?
Merriment
When I looked out one Autumn day, a merriment caught my eye
A whirling dervish of laughing leaves attempting to reach the sky
A spiral flame, a swirling mill
Who knows if they are swirling still?
Carpenter
Oh Carpenter of Nazareth
From dim and distant past
From a culture we’re not part of
In a role uniquely cast
Touching lives with love and healing
Seeking nothing but man’s good
Preaching personal redemption
Taking shelter where you could
Some adored you, some despised you
Then you died and went away
But you claimed that was your purpose
To create a better way
It is said death didn’t hold you
That you rose, are living still
Hid within the folds of Heaven
From that place you reach us still
Though the years have passed in thousands
Though man’s turmoil never ends
Still we seek you, want you, need you
Need the strength your spirit sends
Comfort us in doubt and struggle
In our lives materialise
Each new day awake new wonder
Carpenter who never dies
Sunflowers
Their bowed heads are beautiful
Even though the flowers have died
A toughened ridge encircles them
While seeds are formed inside
Their summer’s gold has disappeared
Where glory stood them proud
Their height, their grandeur drew the gaze
As they displayed, unbowed
But Autumn wind, unkindly rain
Has loosed their certain grip
Their petals scattered far and wide
And age has bid them tip
But still they hug their secrets fast
Their treasure clasped and sure
Their death releases future life
Their genus is secure
Heaven in a Highland Glen
If you could create a heaven for yourself
From all of the scenes you’ve loved
The grandeur of a highland glen
With tranquil lochs enclosed
A peaceful wooded river walk
Cascading waterfall
A meadow on a sunlit day
The loom of mountains tall
If you could walk unbroken steps
Through backdrops of delight
Then heaven would be joy indeed
Where all your dreams unite
Autumn leaves in August
They said it was a portent
If portents were still a thing
Like pygmy shrews in pantaloons
Or hearing an aardvark sing
The sudden howl of donkeys
Or laughter from a cat
Like seaweed in a bedouin tent
There’s wonderment in that
The sky an orange sherbet
At midnight in July
Might indicate that it’s too late
To teach a dog to fly
But Autumn leaves in August
May tell a gentler tale
Of passing but peplexing days
Should we survive the gale
Crow
If I could fly away on the back of a crow
Content to go wherever they go
Above, aloft, through trees and boughs
Observing sheep, espying cows
Out-racing sparrows, robins, wrens
And startling rabbits into dens
We’d swoop and dive, a thermal ride
Would lift us high where we could glide
Unmindful of the life below
In moments lost, just girl and crow
Where the Birds Sing
May I never stop seeking you where the birds sing
May my heart lift with hope at the beat of a wing
May the rustle of Spring stir my quickening breath
And the signs of new life banish tendrils of death
May a morning’s fresh promise yield warmth and a smile
And a journey look hopeful beyond gate or stile
As I stand in a meadow, my soul in my hands
May delight lift me upwards to bright dreamed-of lands
Shooting Stars
There are shooting stars up there, you know
Beyond the Earth-bound cloud
The heavens are bright with dancing lights
If our eyes could pierce the shroud
A day can seem unfathomable
And life so strange and pale
But wonders rich dance on, dance on
When glory lifts the veil
The Tree that caught the Moon
Her blackened branches cradled there
A lustrous gift beyond compare
Spread, wide, yet undeserving, she
Upheld the night sky’s deity
An orb immense, whose borrowed light
Suffused the tree with pure delight
Though leaf and bud had left her frame
This honour magnified her name
Her royal crown and steadfast bole
Well-suited to a starring role
As tall she stood, and proud and fine
The expertise of her design
Enveloped Heaven’s spectral sphere
Her exclusivity now clear
She swayed and smirked at trees around
Convinced she stood on hallowed ground
But ere her branches stooped to bow
A darkened shadow kissed her brow
Her love departed all too soon
As she, bereft, let slip the moon
