May ends in drizzle
Gnome with his cigarette
soldiers on

thistles spring up
on a rainy slope
where legions fell

Kalkriese, Germany

a flash of gold -
the church weathervane
between dark leaves

in grey morning
ghostly wisteria
reaches out

in every bed
nature always returns:
the horsetails

The hawthorn buds
are straining to become
Van Gogh's stars.
.

A caterpillar
wriggles across the plain
of my car bonnet.
,

From the door knocker
horned black skulls observe
pink cherry blossom.

The beaming face
on the wheelie bin,
the frowning pansies.

Ageing red tulips
outside my door, rivalled by
yellow and purple.

The magnolia
blooms light up on the tree -
a pink brain.

A broken twig hangs
on the crab-apple tree,
young leaves at the tip.

Above the long pool
with its many fountains -
a white butterfly.

Marrakesh, Morocco

Daffodils in line -
yellow-headed policemen
guard the house.

A sudden scent
of plum blossom and whiteness
and the bees buzzing.

Under cloudy skies,
beneath trees as I pass:
three pale daffodils.

poetry monthly international, Issue 1, Nov. 2008

On top of a pine
the magpie chatters and squawks,
lord of creation.