The hospice

Energy drips
From my fingers
Images marooned
By my tired tide.

This place venerates
Weakness
I have not got its measure
Yet.
Too many mixed voices
Helping and so slip
Between the aid and aided.

The jigsaw will
Fall into place .
Happen!

JL April 26 13:4

Tomorrow

Today
I see tomorrow
A gentle nudge
No leaves on my tree.
Smile for me.

JL April. 18:29

Smile

Splash my hands
With sunshine
Give all a golden glow
Donate a smiling gift
In spite of feeling low.

JL April 23. 17:11

Cold Farm

Good Shepherd Sunday.
Plenty to do now
The snow lifts
To look upon the undoing
Of the time.
Death at every turn
Daunts faith
And yet hope sets a grim smile
On human trials,
And determination
Has a firm step
Looking at the fiery sunset.

JL April 22 16:48

Cold Stone

Wild white moors
Beginning edges
Snow behind walls
Create an etching
Of wild grasses
Etched with grey stone .
Whipped cuttings
And barest trees.
Farmhouse dereliction
Strains the soul
With a cold grin
I hold a smile.

JL April 21. 19:22

Remember Spring

I have known
Sunny afternoons.
Warm back
In a field of hay

Today high and bright
The cool of spring
Flutters daffodils
And early blackthorn

How the season
Does belie my state
Burgeoning blossom
Against my mounting ash.

At least the brightest colour
Draws my face into a smile.

JL April. 20 15:53

Fresh Air

Ah fresh air
Albeit by ambulance
No leaves
But the willow
Has a pleasing
Pale green hue.
What promise
For a Thursday afternoon .

For me a real breath
Outside the room
A touch of silver
To my aid my tune.
To glide from deepest sleep
To shining noon


JL April 19 15:35

Subdued

Subdued
By chemicals
Through the night.

I wlll return.

JL April 17. 15:5
9

Embers

Every word
Has begun
To weigh a ton.

Every idea
Requires
Some fire.

I pray
For breath
To light
An ember.

JL April 16. 17:13

Game Over

Tide's out,
Seagull's sentinel
On the chimney pot
Takes
A commanding view
Above the bungalows.
Lifts off to challenge
The jackdaw's foray.
No contest.
The ragged flap
Before the supermarine
Smoothest gliding turn
A conquering cackle
To settle back in place
Within his ring of confidence.

Game over

JL April 15 16:16

High as a Kite

The scent of spring
Enlivens things
Tempts the circling height
Of mating kites.

Above the down land
A late harlequin of geese
Moves with the first sou'wester
To steal a late release.

The local hand of sunny dawns
Have encouraged mister finch
To show his flashy colours
Along the margins of the lawn.

JL April 14 16:27

Surrender

Through mist and rain
Your shadow calls me
Once again.

So far away
Keeping your dream land
Beyond my touch.

Separated by sunshine
Imposed upon my world
I admit surrender.

JL 13. April 17:14

Sirens

Soft power
Have gentled me
Along a very stoney road.

I am open
To a soft touch
Of dark velvet petals.

Siren voices
Call me across the hill
To an upland plain.

Looking towards the horizon
No distinct slanting light
To guide me into flight.

JL 12 April 20:23

Escape

Beyond the bank
Beneath the hedge
Primroses give way
To violets
A fragile purple carpet
A transport of delight
To a pool of fragrance
Where I would let my soul rest

JL 11 April 18:59

Warming

A warming Wednesday
Now we wait for April showers
To kiss the frail green shoot
To brightly burgeon
The early butterfly.

JL 10 April 19:01

So Cold

Tuesday
Before the tide
And withering wind
Draw down the close of day.

Previous sunny days
Had tempted buds to burst
Now held to test
Our patience.

I hope for
A spring into Spring
As I hoped before
To lift me into life.

JL 9 April 16:33

Certain Ties

How certain
Is the dawn?
Pretty certain
In the grand design.

Personally
Not so.

But the sun still shines
On the gold finch
Flickering and flashing
In the tree,
The jingle jangle
Of the ice cream van,
And on my shoulder
A friendly hand.

JL April 8. 14:54

Sunday Grace

Strong echoes
As blackthorn
And pear blossom
Hint at fruit to come.

This day
I find myself
Nestling in a grove
Of fronding ferns.

At my side
Standing tall
Figures of triumph
In ages past.

Arms reach out
To free my soul
And set me to fly
Beyond my fastened weight.

The lightness
Of their being
Gives us confidence
To speak of angels.

JL April 7. 13:25

Slipping

Not so cheery
From my room today
Stylus slips
Over the words
Measuring ideas
In my swelling sleep
But refusing
To rise with me
And tempting
My body to slip away.

JL April 6. 20:56

Green Mist

I await
A swing
Into spring.

I resent
The burning kill
Of eastern chill.

When
Will the south wind-blow
Soft and slow

To give the hedgerow
A green mist
With a gentle kiss?

JL. April 5. 15:54

No Iron Bars

Shiny times
Golden finches.

I am become
The cage bird
Singing
Take care
To scatter glitter.
Prompt the ear
To consider laughter
In the grey
And sullen world
Beyond the cage,
To soar above,
To captivate
A soul in sunshine
And share
A gentle song.

JL April 4 13:34

Shadows

Oh for summer
Sunshine on the lawn
A chortle moment
Of fizzy wine .

The westering sun
The flittering shadow
Of the bat wing
And volume of cicada song.

The after dinner mint
Calvados and coffee,
The laughter
Of a distant shattered glass.

Pale green horizon
Venus ascending
Bright above a harvest moon,
A shadow in the doorway
To soon.

JL April 3. 15:37

Dheanainn Sugradh

Struck
By the haunting
Cadence
The Gael song.

Reefs taken in
Reefs taken out
Waves under her bow
Her booming and whistling
And I a promise to keep
And the dark haired girl.
And the sorrow song.

The forsaken fields
And the memory
Of the dark haired girl
Left a sleeping,
And the cold dawn light
And the fallow field
Resisting the plough

And the waves under the bow
And her song whistling
In the reefs
Over sullen water.

JL April 2 16:29

Easter Monday

Holiday
And high bright sun
The ramblers
Muffled to the eyes.


On market shelves
A dearth of daffodils
All gone to Mum's
Chosen vases.

How right and just
To have mothers
In mind
The most vulnerable
Of human kind.

JL April 1 16:16