Each step a new cloud, Each puff of cloud a new vision, Each droplet of water a new freshening, Each blink a new puff 07/19

Sometimes As I plod left right on a rocky climb In the hot morning air I wish I was already there The lake water fanning out my hair, Or lying on a soft mattress drifting into dream And then I see the burst of a blue gentian beside a purple Iris And my mind melts […]

Mountains high as my hope Lakes deep as my fear Sun strong as my resolve Streams clear as my mind 07/19

Will you be my rhubarb pal? Do you love that sharp kick, The pinkish skin on sticks that grow Lickety split as the sun rises in the sky? Will you join me in a crumble, a fool, Stewed with ginger, Letting the taste linger a little On the tongue? Will you be my rhubarb pal? […]

After each steep climb, the col, After each scorched day, the night, After each parched throat, the source, After each wooded glen, the sun After each breath, a step, After each step, a breath 07/19

Last night before sleep The wooden slats of a rickety bridge Plunged me into a wingless flight; My foot slipped on wet rock And my head cracked into a steep gully. What a fright on this soft bed, With death hiking round my head 07/19

Onto glacier scree slopes and boulder bounced moraine, Onto sheep bells echoing round the hot rocks, Onto the smoky blue water of Lac des Huats, Lac Gaudo and the cascades, Onto the étangs full of melt water where my fingers froze, Onto the pines, our sweat and sun-shined skin, Onto the bonjours and saluts and […]

In the land where vultures cry, And mountains thrust jaggy peaks to the sky, And yellow beaked choughs tumble by I could lie down and die in these meadows of bells and butterflies, Here on the steep slopes High on life 2019

2/8/19 We walked for 3 hours in thick mist, Knowing the gist of the land by map, Seeing only birches, bracken, pines, oaks, Wild raspberries, and mountain streams And birds splash the trails with honeyed song Then the sun swallows the last cloud And the mountains speak And even our sweat has a sweeter taste […]

French beans hold heart shaped hands in prayer against the cold, Daisies clench white petals to hide their inner sun, The wind ticks through fairy clocks, spitting seed And 13 dusky slugs bask in moist delight – plump seals on the underside of the compost bin lid 2019