Mid March

Mid March

And the new-crisp apples

Sing in the shops

The summer heat still lingers,

Listlessly,

But the reeds in the ponds are browning

And the dragonflies

Forget their summer languor.

Mid March

And the skies are blue,

So blue

You could lose yourself forever into blueness.

The Japanese maple

Is sending its leaves, forthwith,

Into early retirement.

The world breathes in

And out.

Mid March.

And the workaday world looks back to the holiday season

And feet submit to stiffer shoes again.

Mornings are darker now,

And some kookaburra

Laughs, far too early, at our human folly.

The Lenten season coils around our hearts

Unnoticed

All we see is autumn’s bounty

And nights grown cool enough to sleep again.