The cold is here and I am happy to say we have a warm, enclosed fire going which as I write has been burning for four days. Momo my rescued little dog loves the fire and spends the day curled up on the softest chair nearby and in the evenings sometimes even gets up and stretches out on the tiles in front of the fire. Such a testing life!
The morning walk is always greeted with the roosting birds flying out over our heads to spend the day in their favourite fields where sadly three days ago I saw a dead cow and if nature is beautiful she is also pretty mean because the magpies peck out the dead’s eyes first then rip off the skin and it would have been a better system if the earth just sucked these creatures up and let them rot down with more dignity.
WINTER’S FORTUNE
When snow has settled on the ground,
Silence hangs all around,
But for my laughing and shouting
But for the snowballs I send dancing.
Winter’s Best!
With thick, wool mittens and new boots,
Warm head! Warm hands! Warm roots!
Sledges slipping over snow,
Faster than the fleet we go!
Raise my voice with the rest,
Winter’s Best!
But if your cold through and through,
Too poor and sad for snow’s sweet tune,
Blue hands! Blue nose! Blue feet!
Summer must be hard to beat!
(A poem from the upcoming collection If You Are A Child, These Are For You)