A bitter, numbing night
Of piercing winter frost,
Gives way to densest fog
At the first dawn light.
And what was frozen
Leaks into new life.
Icy whiteness drips
Onto iron-hard earth.
Diamonds of crystal light
Melt into essence, until
The new dawn wakes the world.
We should never despair.
Poem and Photo Copyright Englepip©
When I wake early to a summer’s morn
My spirits, leap.
Turning, I watch your chest gently rising and falling
And I am glad, so glad that you will be here
To share this day.
The dawn has broken and the birds flit from bush to tree
Finding a perch high up from which
To announce their presence and welcome
The fact that they are alive.
My territory they announce; my family; my food.
I cannot blame them, for them,
Not to fight for the right
To survive; means certain death.
I watched last year how the blue-tit parents failed to provide
And all nine chicks lost their lives.
But I am human and English and comfortable
And on Saturday mornings the whole world is mine
For an hour or maybe two.
Quietly I slip from the bed and into a gown,
Creeping downstairs to boil the kettle
And look out at the garden which has grown while I was not looking.
Sitting at the table next to the patio door
I luxuriate in the pale dawn light;
the bird song and the peace
And the fact that there is not yet traffic.
A woody scent emanates from the earth
As the dew evaporates with the growing warmth.
I hear a plop as a frog returns to the tiny pond next to the pear tree.
And I think of England – as did Shelley- except I am here already.
I have another forty-five minutes, surely.
The sun rises and the bird song diminishes on my little patch of paradise
And still I think of England, my early morning England.
But as the noise of planes and traffic increases,
So does the dust in the air which becomes city dry
Taking on that acrid brightness that is brittle;
And though the heat is increasing, I pull my gown closer and shiver
At the prospect of a Saturday in England, in the twenty-first century.
My tea is cool now in the mug.
One neighbour has decided to spray insecticide early,
While it is cool and he thinks no one will notice.
At the back, the children have woken and wail in an argument over an iPad.
And then the DIYers…….and the traffic!
The cacophony of what is England now, today.
England – fair England – eaten up by diesel fumes and thoughtlessness,
I hear you stir.
And I am so glad that you will be here with me,
To calm and shield me in the chaos that is life;
My constant in a changing and polluting world that
I would hold dear, but fear cannot survive this way.
I will take you up a cup of tea.
Photo and words copyright Englepip©
I stand by the road
Watching the sun rise:
Dissipating the early morning fog
Which has hung like a blur
Across the landscape.
The frost freezes my toes and fingers
And my breath, a smoky dragon breath
Hangs in the morning air.
First there was nothing
Not a hand before my face
Could be seen in the dark whiteness;
As though the world was lost to me.
Even the sounds were muffled.
But then comes a glimmer
Turning grey to yellow
So that cloudiness
Thins into suffused brightness.
And then with one intense burst of sunlight,
The world throws off its murky past.
And all that seemed lost is found.
The birds trill their morning greetings.
And the road ahead emerges,
A winding, uncertain track
Reaching into the distance.
But now I know which way to travel.
I start out, gladly, full of hope.
I wrote this poem as a metaphor. It is about emerging from depression. It is possible to feel lost, as though every person, thing and place we know has changed and disappeared from our lives; as though we are cut off and shrouded from the world and can find no future. That is the dark night in the fog. However, gradually, oh so gradually light emerges; we begin to see a way forward and no matter how uncertain it is, it is so important to recognise the way and take the chance. For there is always a way forward, no matter how far we have sunk into ourselves.
Poem and photo copyright Englepip©
Waiting in the darkness
Listening to the shift between
Dark and Light
The silent moments
Before the world changes.
Scanning the horizon
For the gathering greyness
That signals the new day.
The first bird tweets before light
And the fox slinks back to its burrow.
And then there it is
Suddenly above the hillside
A glimmer of dawn.
There is an exhalation of delight
Among us and a relaxation
Of shoulders held tense.
The new day has come
And we can glory and rejoice
In a new light.
Words and photo copyright Englepip©
Englepip's World 