In the garden

Late evening, not yet dark -

Beguiled by the scent of lilac blossoms -

Cool grass underfoot - 

Barefoot - 

Looking up at the starless blue sky -

The pines -

The white moon -

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

April 2026 

Reading The Power and the Glory

I play billiards with the jefe -

I drink from the bottle -

I can smell betrayals -

The lure of seven hundred pesos -

Tomorrow they'll shoot the priest -

Just one moment of pain -

April 2026

Number 40

I took the Number 40 back to Wareham -

An old excitement filled me -

Riding the top deck -

Gazing out like a proud captain -

Number 40 Bus

April 2026

Leaving my darlings

Leaving my darlings -

Sleepless that last night - 

The train carrying me away -

TransPennine Express

April 2026

Another cure for melancholy

Another cure for melancholy -

Being with Wallace in Filey -

Wallace driving the ball down the fairway -

A warm sea wind through the trees -

The scent of the grass -

The gentle sky -

Wallace handing me a club -

You'll need a putter, chief -

I no longer think of my sleepness nights -

Of what I may be told -

Filey

April 2026

Early morning in Scarborough

Awakening trees in Royal Avenue -

Salty sunshine -

Stroppy gulls -

In Ramshill Sainsburys, a gaffer who smells of iron filings -

Buying a pristine Yorkshire Post -

Deja Brew just opening -

Remembering the dancing greybeard I saw yesterday -

Dancing in a cloud of weed -

A morning ahead of me with two of my darlings -

Each day precious -

Like holding water in my cupped hands -

Scarborough 

April 2026

The Italian Gardens

I followed a winding path to the Italian Gardens -

Sunlight fell on blossom and bright greenery -

White pillars framed a view of the sea -

A young naked god faced the blueness of the sky -

The air was warm -

Full of memory and dream -

As though I were at last awake -

Opening my eyes to what I had never seen -

The Italian Gardens 

Scarborough 

April 2026