Leaving my heart

Shadow apples on the grass - 

The car waiting - 

Leaving my heart in the gentle house -

East Stoke

September 2024

Julia remembered the mountain

Julia remembered the mountain - 

How they'd sung carols to the wonderment of the sherpas - 

We were in The Moorland Cafe -

The rain still falling -

I thought of all her adventures - 

Being eighteen with a boy aged nineteen - 

Driving in a mini to Corfu - 

Walking in Corsica - 

The muleteers firing their pistols -

 The shooting stars in the fragrant sky - 

The Moorland Cafe

Longnor

September 2024

At the window

The Yorkshire Post - 

Flowers in a vase -

Rain falling on silent fields  -

Longnor 

September 2024

On the high hill

On the high hill I saw the world -

The sky above the bright fields - 

Swallows chasing joy - 

The light falling from heaven 

Bunster Hill

September 2024

Scriveners

I climbed the narrow stair - 

From cellar to attic -

Each room a nest of words -

Scrivener

Buxton

September 2024

Tongue tied with love

Glimpsing Sophie from the train - 

Her smile -

Each time I see her, being tongue tied with love - 

Leeds Railway Station 

September 2024

Soon they were dancing

Soon they were dancing -

Julia clapping -

Anne and Lindy - 

Circling one another, dancing -

Longnor

Saturday 7 September 2024

The first night

Glasses of red in The Horseshoe Inn -

Julia laughing -

The twisty stairs -

Low ceilings - 

The deep valleys and high hills - 

Falling into my welcome bed - 

Longnor

Peak District 

September 2024

Waiting for the Peugeot

Waiting for the Peugeot -

Rain falling on burnished chrome -

Beguiled by an Ioniq 5 - 

Howards 

Dorchester 

September 2024

My boyhood in the shop window

Next to a Buddha -

The Electric Cruiser -

The palm tree, the languid river -

I saw my boyhood in the shop window -

Swanage

September 4 2024

My dad's watch

I'm wearing my dad's watch -

I'd see it on his wrist when he sat in the lounge of memory -

Wearing it now, I remember the lightness of his bones - 

The shape of his smile, the touch of his hand on mine -

September 2024

Reading Mistress Peachum's Pleasure

I'm reading Mistress Peachum's Pleasure -

I sit with thief takers, rakes and wits - 

Polly sees her comely youth approach the tree - 

Blueskin lunges for Jonathan Wilde -

Little Mr Pope hears Lavinia sing -

His Grace whispers loudly - it will do - it must do!

September 2024

Falling from the tree

Once more picking up windfalls -

Delving into the uncut lawn - 

The rain just stopped - 

My years, like the apples, falling from the tree -

East Stoke 

Dorset

September 1 2024