Easter

A morning
A dawning
Across
The sign
Of suffering
Of hearts
In hope
Soul full
Faith full
Help full

A tiny grain
The seed
Set in hearts
Will grow
Will flower
Colour
Creation
And bless
Without stain
The Word
To come again
Again and again

JL March 31 13:01

Waiting

A quiet empty day
The altar stone bare
A winding sheet
Looped across
A cross
Dominates the empty nave.

The darkness dashed
By sunshine shafts,
Stained glass
Throws red patterns
Before the whiteness
Of the winding sheet.

The great west door
Just ajar
Awaits the coming
Of the Easter fire
At dusk.

JL March 30 17:16

Wakefield 1382

"That takes me back"
Roland said,
Hitting the Roman nail
Squarely on the head.

Most nails were flat round
Sometimes square
But these were diamond head
With room to spare,

Easier to extract with iron claw
From flesh and bone
And soft wood cross
When death is done.

Roland weighs the nail
And contemplates
The women weeping
As they wait

At the foot of the cross
And measure
a medieval history of loss.
JL March 29 16:31

Breath

Sleep again defeats me
Fingers fumble
All things conspire
To take my breath away
I will try again tomorrow

JL march 28 19:21

Spy Wednesday

On the down land
To the sea
The snow
Has stifled
Ewe and lamb alike.
In other years
Holy Week
Would see
Full fields of lambs.
Now the snow
Has stilled all life
Entombed
In nature's sepulchre.
Shepherds
Mourn their loss.
An ironic triduum
Of rescue and its cost.

JL March 27 15:27

Be My Guest

Early morn
Sun splashed
My floriales room
Deep reds
And gentle apricot
Pinks and greens
Cheered my
Confinement
But
The monochrome
Beyond my gates
Is temptation too far
For my mental leap.
I will remember
All my summers
Filled with gentle touches
And wine filled
Afternoons.
Be my guest!

JL March 26. 15:34

Bormes Les Mimosas

A tiny golden bell
A lemon ribbon
Mimosa momento
Of an Easter faraway.
Furry yellow flowers
Top the trees
Around the square.
A yellow powder
Dusts our feet.
All our children
Ringing tiny bells
Dance towards
A Jerusalem
Built to fill the window
Of the chocolatier,
Promise of a weekend
In waiting.

JL March 25. 16:59

Palm Sunday

Hosanna day
Palms and flowers
Sunshine
And flurry showers

Hurry home
From early Mass
Winter cold
A stinging blast.

We look to Easter
For a rising son
A spring beginning
And perhaps a warming one.

JL March 24 12:58

Hosanna

Today
My life turns
Into shadow.
As I shut my eyes
The past flows on
Around and down
In soft edges
Of opaque shades
In Lenten mauve.

Tomorrow
The past is full
Sight and sound
Waving palms
And trumpet blasts,
The coming
Of a reluctant king.
Even then the stones
Begin to sing
Hosanna

JL March 23 17:45

Wild Winds

Wild winds
Thrash leafless trees.
Grey sky hints
Once more at snow.

Come spring
Leap before my eyes
Raise my spirits
From sinking low.

Flakes flick
Before my sight
Gathering up
The fading light.

Time to turn in.

JL March 22. 17:33

Shelter

Distant rumble
Belies clear skies,
Memory
Of days in Spain.
Vast fields
Of sunflowers
Turn their backs
On rain,
Silent
But for the pulse of water
Shot from cannons
Against
Our darkened sky.

The first drops
Hit the road
Large as tea plates
As we ran for cover
Beneath
An ancient barn.

How we hugged
And laughed
With the singing
Of that moment
With our beating
Hearts
Falling into one another
Upon broken bales of straw
Never a moment
To compare
The elation of the drenching rain
And our final coming together.

JL March 21. 13:54

Equinox

Vernal equinox
When we can
With impunity
Play Fancy Dan.

We venerate
Green ringed around
Bubbling springs
Silver from the ground.

The return of living
Water to the land
Sweet tasting
Filtered through
The shining sand.

JL March 20 18:08

Born to Bounce

They're here again
Entertainment on a twig,

Indefatigable assault
Launched from lamppost light
To tree top trampoline,

Much March mating
No time to bill and coo
Must match the action
" Keep still woman!"

A cautionary tail:
" Born to Bounce."
Without a feather ruffled
In collared dove love.

JL March 18 13:06

Paddy's Choice

Yesterday
My dad's feast day
Most appropriate
For a kindly Irishman.
Now he could watch
For a kindly day
For potato planting
Kerr's Pink
Paddy's choice.

He was one for spading the ground
In preparation for clinching a deal
In the long run.
With an eye to the weather
He was a wary walker
Tis the bright day
That brings forth the adder.
He knew better than most
Born on St Swithens day.

" Better ask your father! "
Was my mother's cry.
He merely gave knowing smile.
" A nod's as good as wink to a blind horse."
He rarely gave anything away
Being brought low
By a single stroke.
His final request.
A bacon and egg sandwich
Before he slipped
Into the silence and the dark.

"Goodnight ladies",
Would have been
A more fitting
Farewell.

JL March 18. 15:58

Devastation

Devastation
Leads me across the wilderness
The song of the reeds
Brushed by the rippling wind
The warmness of sun
Along my bare arms.
In the distance
Rising from the earth
The dark army
Raucous with a blare of trumpets.
I will not go there
But turn my face to the sun
And feel the worlds breath
Along my cheek
And lying here among the reeds
Watch the openness of sky
And the powerplay of creation.

JL March 17. 13:13

Silver Bubble

Holding gently together
Lest we fall apart
The way long
And the road stoney,
Kind words
And soft touches
Float my music
Catch my breath,
Silver bubble rises
To break the surface.
Silent lips try in vain
To kiss the air
And begin another song
As I did so many years ago.

JL March 16 15:07

Holding On

Azalea towers
Above my dresser
Unseasonal gift
Of magenta froth
To lighten my room.

To walk with flowers
Along the forest floor
Showering of willow
Above the line of sight
Primrose glow below.

The thrust of spring
Carries me forward
Blesses my journey
With firm focus
And will to hold on.

JL March 15. 16:06

The Ides of March

Daily daily
Night by night
A haunting
Of ancient dreams
A might have been
Of moments
Pleasured
And released from pain.
Soft yielding flesh
Smooth raven fur
Tasting the dark corridor
Revisited time and again
Again and again
Before a fitful coming
Waking to reality
In the deepest corner
Of the night
Slipping into darkness
Once again
Looking to slake my thirst.

JL 14 March 14:12

Eastern Window

My eastern window
Splashed my eyes
With winter dawn

My supine moment
Lent me the freedom
Of a cloud borne kite

My ventilated world
Filled with clarity and
All pleasured possibility.

On rising, grounded
By the reality of flesh
I contemplate my captivity.

What did you go out to see,
A rich man in fine clothes?

My grudged acceptance:
A reed blowing in the wind.


JL March 13. 15:13

Joy Deferred

A joy
Full of daffodils
Soak up the sun
Lift the heart's ease
To a contented one.

A fragrance of flowers
Turns the world
To a softness of sleep
And the swirling mist
Of vanishing hours.

Dreamtime
Where all is possible
Yet undefined.
Upon waking
Clearly undermined.


JL March 12 15:51

Snow Snow

Snow snow
Come and go

Stiff breeze
Helps freeze

Hyacinth
Frothy pink

Tiny daffs
Raise a laugh

And the reason
Due season

All in place
Winter's face

On its heels
Spring heals

At least it feels
Like that.

JL March 11 16:32

Laetare Jerusalem

Laetare Jerusalem
The call down the ages
Relief from self denial
On this mid lent Sunday.

Spring flowers to mothers
Of parent gentleness
Soft face of caring
In a careless world.

Laetare is a moment's joy
Before the rising Easter sun
Where a mother's loss and pain
Offers a redemptive son.

JL March 10 15:05

Caught

Caught the memory
Of a summer afternoon
To paint the future
With the hope of times to come.
The chit chit chatter
Of swallows on the wire
Just to welcome
Spring
With cherry blossom
Birdsong at dawn
And scent of growing under foot.

JL March 8. 16:51

A Sudden Shower

A sudden shower
Has kicked
my senses into life.
Lilac candles
Round the open door
And step by step
Winter ending Daphne
Fill the house
With finest fragrance
Dance along the sunbeam
Scented open hall,
A silent echo
Of my past,
Empty and alone
Beneath a pale blue,
Frosted Friday sky.

JL March 8 15:32

Laburnum Days

Do you remember
Under laburnum days
The lemon cascades
Brought to earth
By early summer rain?

The unfurling crosiate fern
Touched by diamond dew
A quenching fairy thirst
That caught my arm
Along the forest walk.

And now the pleasure pain
Just a memory
Of walking once again
To recapture
The poet's careless rapture.


JL March 7 15:52

Plumpness

A plumpness
Of doveliness,
Buff breasted
Upon the tree twigged trampoline,
A high white collared
Comfortably rotund
Parish priest
Views the world
With a watchful eye.
Confirmed in indolence
Slips off with a lazy glide.

JL March 6 13:41

Star Flower

Soon will be
My blue star flower,
Filling cracks
Between places,
Under coping stones
A delicate cascade,
A filigree of pastel
Marian blue,
Born of darkness
Softening
The cold reality
Of confining winter walls.

Give thanks
For dark places
Between the stones
That give a smile
A birth unasked for
With a gratuity of grace
That faith and hope
Have fastened into place.

JL March 5. 14:40

Seagull

Such a turbulent spring
Across a wanton world
Just below the surface
Are the working
Of such cardinal sins.
Discordant banging
Of the social dustbin lid
The raucous gunfire rattle
Covers the surreptitious
Whispers of more secret sins.
No amount of cries of Shame
Will stop it rising again and again,

Like the seagull depositing ordure
Tis the nature of the game.

JL March 4 15:17

Fig

An infinity
Of sky
And freedom
Beneath the sun
To ripen
All fruitful things
Figs, oranges and plums
All in due season
Spring has begun
A fig leaf
What will summer bring?

JL march 3 15:55

Grouse

Too sleepy
Weakly
In the land of dream
And memory
Of walks in the hills
Grouse rising
And wind in my hair.

JL March 1. 20:30