Changes (Autumn Snippings )

I can see through the hedge
now the floor is littered
with crispy Hawthorn leaves.

Newly shawn sheep
grazing in the colder wind
that encourages them
to grow new wool.

Horses galloping round,
nostrils flaring,
exhaling misty breath.
Their backs covered
by tartan blankets.

The old gardener,
bent.
Lifting his annual bedding
and pruning his roses.

Farmer Jones with his tractor
collecting the hay bales
to sustain his animals
through the winter.

I can see everything
getting ready to rest
until spring returns
in it’s richness.

Then,
I won’t be able
to see through the hedge.

Elaine Morris ( c ) October 2014.

Time (Autumn Snippings)

Yellow and golden leaves or dull and dusty green.
Late summer days or early autumn.
let dull and dusty feelings turn
to bright forward looking days,
maybe it’s time to shed your load and prepare for rest.

There’s stuff needs to be done to wind up summer.
Paint the fence, prune the shrubs,
while nature ripens fruit and spreads her seeds.
Gather lavender to sweeten the the house,
keep the summer scent scent a wee bit longer.
Harvest produce from the growing season,
preserve some for leaner times and winter festivities.
Clean the bird feeders, put sunflower heads to dry.
Replenish the leaf pile as autumn falls,
the hedgehog needs to sleep soon.

Do all this with enthusiasm.
Great rewards come from preparation.

Elaine Morris (c) October 2014

Afternoon Drive (Autumn Snippings)

The autumn sun broke through the mist
highlighting a wealth of gold in the
trees,
flickering on the road in an irregular
rhythm
like the music of Scott Joplin.
Enveloping me in it’s warmth through the
car window,
on the day it was not my turn to drive.
Elaine Morris (c) October 2014.

Lapwings (autumn snippings)

The mere was mostly quiet
suddenly the skittish lapwings rose
as they do,
without asking questions first.
The sky a mass of black and white
below the blue.
All this because of a solitary kestrel
which they eventually succeed
in knocking out of the sky.
Once back on the mere
their black under wings are hidden
beneath a grey green coat
with cream collar,
topped by a little black cap
trimmed with an elegant crest.

Elaine Morris (c) October 2014