20 March 2019 – It’s here. Spring at last. And prompted by a call-out on the BBC from the Arts & Humanities Research Council, I wrote a poem.

They wanted writers to capture the beauty of any observarions of nature that struck them during the day. The brief was a photo and a piece of poetry or prose of no more than 150 words. This inspired me to take a walk in the local park and see if anything caught my attention.

It did.

This is what I wrote…

In a sun-kissed moment 
I stop to watch the bundles
of newly plumped bundles
on the quivering branch
hover on the brink 
of cherry-pink explosions.

Until…
the sound of a boy licking 
his whippy ice-cream
with a dog 
straining his lead
to sniff at the ducks
from the edge of the pond,
distracts me.

Takes my gaze 
to the handsome mallard 
boldly dipping and bobbing 
flashing his wings
at his speckled mate
as she swirls in serene circles.

Their dance of courtship
ripples and fractures
the ghostly reflections
of the cherry tree branches
on the pond’s glassy surface
below.

To my left
a lone bluebell
droops in the shadows
of a sprawling olive-tree
that proudly sprouts
new leaves.

All this 
while serenaded
by birds in melodic chorus,
their chirps, clucks
warbles and soft tut-tuts 
a song that lingers 
in the late-afternoon glow.

Spring is here.