Summer window

SUMMER WINDOW

At a distance, through a grey veil of rain,

The unlovely bulk of the cement works

Takes on the solid dignity of a castle

With its squat keep and square banquet hall

Outlined against the mottled sky.

Fork-tailed birds swoop and swirl, flash by

The spattered panes to their nest in the eaves

To feed their cheeping, fluffy-feathered young

Who venture out to perch, impatient, on the tiles

From which they will soon test their wings,

Flying in ever-expanding circles.

Wasps buzz fruitlessly against closed windows,

Wood pigeons tirelessly repeat their cooing calls

Against the steady drip of rain

And cracking of damp timbers.

An antidote to drab shades of grey,

A rowan offers up its green fronds

Clustered with orange berries,

A delicate tracery of complimentary colours

That catch the first light of the watery sun’s return.

Written in the Granary cottage on a wet afternoon (23/08/10)