Defiant
Through January chills
~
Your milky whiteness
Nurtures us
~
Through all our winter ills.
Words and Thoughts, for Life
Defiant
Through January chills
~
Your milky whiteness
Nurtures us
~
Through all our winter ills.
Thin winter branches
Sill alive
Reaching out for the weak winter sunlight
~
As if they knew
In their poverty
They needed a mystery
Still to survive.
~
Photograph: Thin winter branches, Teign gorge, Devon

A bullfinch perched
Right outside my window
~
They are so shy
This was a notable occurring
~
And my heart lifted
Just to watch him for a moment
~
With his bright red body
And rich black head
~
These unplanned revelations
The greatest part of my learning.
~
Image – A fleeting glimpse of a bullfinch, Morchard Bishop, December 2024

The buzzard flying away
Turning to look at me
~
Behind him
The infinite blue sky
~
As if in his freedom
He had greater depths than me
~
In his affinity
With what is on high.
~
Photograph – buzzard, Morchard Bishop, Devon, December 2024

First night
No noise
Starlight
And silence.