Flora

Suffolk Flora

Fauna

Suffolk Fauna ( obviously most from a zoo called Africa Alive and not wandering in the wilds of the county)

Somalian Ass

 

Mongoose

 

 

Chimapnzee

 

Otter

 

Meerkats

 

 

Goat

 

Buffalo

 

Kingfisher in the garden

 

Duck

Flamingos

 

 

Giraffe

 

Goose

Taste

I taste your fingers and drown
They have the tang of the sea
Salt upon ozone breezes at noon
I smell your hair and inhabit Eden
Jasmine and Orange blossom
In fragrant wind unto the earth end
I kiss your pillowed lips of softness
They are chocolate and honeyed figs
And this is no bittersweet embrace
For I feel your warmth on my skin
And it slides about me like a serpent
Coils gently crushing love into me
And I shall stay here sated forever

Suffolk Holiday

 

 

The Holiday

 

Soft dawns and green Suffolk expanse

Long golden beaches of corn stubble

Below the azure skies of August days

A Marabou Stork and rhino horn

Herons fly as a reminder of prehistory over...

Round, turreted church towers

Formed of flint from the Saxon land

While wine flowed and food followed

On the yielding lawns of Satis House

For half a century of perfect grace

Cromer crabs may dress for the tourists

But sartorially fine tourists dress for locals

A holiday is always over before it begins

But memories; well they may last a lifetime

 

 

 

 

Kestrel

Weak

Frailty is its own reward

So I am weakened
But sometimes it is strength
For this gentle inflection
On deep oceans of hope
Keeps me afloat
When the rains come

Laughter

Laughter is the rainbow

Arcing over a teary sky
Beauty at tempest's end
But fleeting and uncertain
Yet wondrous to behold
Dictators hate laughter
It troubles obedience
And it cannot be stopped
Once it has begun
For freedom is unconditional

Wind

The wind has torn away yesterday

Filtered through cracks like a spectre
Weaved on dusty floors like a serpent
Shredding our dreams in lieu of today
No soft servant now of a hot summer day
But fearless samurai scything the trees
And our tomorrow is renewed in liberty
For when a storm comes the world changes

Dorothy

Lion, witch and no wardrobe

Tis not munchkin's I'll warrant
Or scarecrows and tin cans
Upon this road of yellow
And I am no Dorothy in gingham
But this is surely the Land of Oz
And it is not as green as supposed

Footstep

The creative plan of time is rich in promise

It moulds the soul into gentle compliance

If we but take its inclination to be at peace
And make of the day what it wills for us
If we wait we may watch a day unfurl

There is always sun hidden within clouds

Seize its favour as it unfolds its embrace

Sleep

Now the wind has passed

The birds have flown south
A thousand beating wings
That harbour longing to stay
I shall sleep perhaps awhile
Take ease in the fading days
Till the spring awakens me
And the birds return to home

Sweetness

 

This bitter stain at last undone
Sugared blood in rivulets form
On a warming steel
Sweetness bursts forth in heat
And I harvest the light of summer
To feed my long, cold winter
For jam tomorrow is labour today

Circle

So I trace a circle on the white space

It is the only thing that makes sense
That doesn't make my gentle head hurt
It is whole and perfectly in completion
Like the evolution of humanity in a dream
Secret whispers finally reveal the truth
We are at perpetual war with everything
Though we are no longer sure of what

Titan

The last open door creaks slowly shut

Or so it would seem in these days
But there is still strength in you
It is the bedrock we stand upon
So if we do not see you then remember
It is only because we do not look down
But you my special one need to look up
Stand up high; like the Titan you are
And let us fall so you can be at last free

Catalyst

We will follow our hearts

They create a catalyst for love
And if they then lead us to ruin
What sweet desolation awaits
Even if the world tastes bitter
True loves flower blooms briefly
But it matures within our hearts
And that fading flower is eternal

August Garden

First pine cones on one of the conifers (20 years waiting) - large ones too, they're hanging off the tree like bunches of bananas

A Courgette (zucchini flower)

 

The Hosta flower

 

Blue Hydrangea and Corkscrew Hazel

Peace

Harmony is imprinted in our hearts

Deliver it with human empathy
Speak no more in angry tongue
Nor with a sophistry of regrets
Talk only of our understanding
When the children are now laid
Within death's timeless vault
It hardly seems to matter anymore
Who of us was first; or was at fault?
And unless we are truly made of stone
What say you now; to a new peace?

Mirror

History is a mirror of inevitability

Reflections of repetition and loss
Mistakes we never learnt from
Are destined forever to repeat
What would make you think?
Upon heady green days of heat
Running stealthily to shorter days
These words or the scent of home
Promises of long missed passion
All the sweeter for the waiting
Delivered in the swell of night
When two people dance together
Off-time to the throbbing beat

Perfection

It wasn't hard to work out

The age of a perfect universe
Just one simple equation
Peace x love x respect for all
Gentle people doing gentle things
The answer came back
But it has too many zeros
To possibly think
It could be tomorrow

Flowers and Macros

Toad (2-3 years old)

Tortoiseshell Butterfly

 

 

Newly emerged Frog

 

 

Spider macro - ok, yuk but still amazing 

 

Chain links

 

Begonia

 

Dahlia

 

Buddleia

 

Red Water lily

Secret

There is a part of the garden

Not even the dog has found
Secret, undiscovered terrain
And I shall never tell its location
At night its secret paths are lit
With the moonlight and lamps
Arias about starlight and loss
Float on the warm evening air
On scents of honeysuckle and freesia
And I am within Elvendom
Where love waits ever wanting

Tynemouth Flowers

Macro close-ups taken by Nick with a canon 650D (what a good camera can do)

Alates

In the heat of the fading day

Three weeks earlier than last year
Alates fly out in honeymoon swarms
To live a whole life in a day
Swallow dodging and making love
Till prisoning earth reclaims the females
Leaving nothing behind but wings and males
Homunculus frogs hop on dusty roads
Move by stealth into the shorter days
Upon these heady green days of heat
And if the world can usurp time so
Am I three weeks older because of it?

Cosmic Horizons

I made a tray of muffins

I think there were twenty four
No two were exactly the same
So I baked more
One billion to be exact
Fixed variables
Endless space
And unlimited numbers
Means identicality is assured
In some of them  
Perhaps hundreds of them
Slice upon slice
Of repetition and cake