Cold Snap
It was one of those winter days
so cold the air filled your lungs
like a lover your heart,
leaving you chasing your breath.
Jackdaws took the first dance
In the sky above blue as a beach towel.
Ghost roads gleamed under foot
And ‘left behind’ leaves shrivelled in
Frost clung to their mother-tree branches.
Blanched snow clouds patrolled the horizon
Tightening their hold on the day
Like Clint Eastwood bringing
a Desperado into town.
After the Show
In the cutaway moonlight
Salome hot from dancing
In the reach and mess of
The king’s tent ran to
The cool and scented bath
Her mother had prepared
Listening to the lullaby she sang
Weaving across the dunes
