Birds in the winter garden

 

I've had enough of winter

Although I say that every year

The days are short my yearning long

Waiting for all the birds spring song

At least there's no ash in the grate

To be cleaned up; for that I hate

Winter stripped the leaves from the trees

Our kids mention they have cold knees

Each day we send them off to school

Then look at garden's frozen pool

See the bare branches in our back yard

As last night's wind has blown so hard

Conversation with naught to say

Among the quiet birds today

Until a rook makes a sad call

Clearly is not happy at all

Later there's a more strident squawk

That's now mentioned by a hawk

Illustration found at www.pixabay.com

The breath of Spring

It had been a long cold winter with families huddled in the cave. Dum and his friend Grunt hunted animals and the women caught fish so they survived. Grunt liked his spear but it had to be sharpened, so he asked Dum for some flint chips. He had none suitable so they went the forest again to search for more.

The forest was not so dark in winter with the leaves fallen and the streams flowing strongly and noises heard more clearly. Then all of a sudden there was a rustle and a snort as a wild boar rushed toward them. Grunt threw his spear which just reflected from its back as Dum stood his ground as the pig charged at him. Dum then raised his axe and brought it down on the pigs head and fell sideways to avoid the animal.

Grunt watched with amazement as the boar kept going then suddenly collapsed some way from them. So he rushed up to it to make sure it was dead. It was; and although not fat it would feed the cave people for a few days. Dum pointed to the tusks and said perhaps they might make good spear heads or their woman might like to use the curved ones as an ornament.

Grunt hadn't seen that far ahead but Dum knew the women would be pleased that the men thought of them while they were hunting. Spring was now coming and Yum's mood would change and he knew she would wash herself again soon after the privations of winter! 

264 words

Illustration found at www.pixabay.com

It is winter here

Good! Wednesday rolls around, hurray!
Do I choose poetry or prose today?
Can I write something to match my mood
Will it be love, sport, disease or food?

Shall I rhyme words for rhythms sake
Will there be lovers or food to bake?
Shall I drag out the past once again
Perhaps not that subject just causes pain

Thens there's Covid which bores me stiff
Forget that, let it be my midriff
No getting out but at home I'm sat
Not walking enough so tummy's fat

For downunder it is winter still
So expecting a big power bill
Come on Spring show us your powers
And brighten us up with some flowers



Downunder is slang name for Australia

Image found at www.Pixabay.com

Beautiful World

Here winter's knocking on the door 
That's because we are upsidedown
Living down in Australia
Not that winter does us much harm
Apples, blueberries not dear

The heat has now gone from our days
But sun still lingers to please us
Reading books so times not wasted
As the years pinwheel spins around
Chocolate's at hand so I hear

While toasted muffins are a treat
We think a lot about the world
What have we done to cause such harm?
We've asked a lot the reason why
Death peers at us without a fear

Beautiful world it makes us cry
We always thought we knew it all
But question our own lives today?
That thought never comes to mind for
We've been checked by a scrutineer!

Image found at www.pixabay.com

Winter taunts us

Winter taunts us with Autumn's colour
Romantic as we hold each other
As dead leaves fall softly to land

Then eerie mists appear at dawn
Soon blown away by the cruel north wind
And beaches now seen with empty strand

Draft excluder now placed foot of door
Trees stripped quite clean with nothing to say
Gaping at view of barren farmland

Humans appearance changes now too
They're less relaxed as if much to do
Planning Christmas needs every hand 

Even the dog curls up in a ball
On summer days he lays out in a sprawl
Now dreams and moans of seashore's sand

Children's eyes shine with first fall of snow
Soon they're downcast with bitter cold
Slipping and sliding is not so grand

Now look! Spring flowers burst from the soil
Gloves not worn now, Sun shines at dawn
Birds chatter and sing like a brass band

Smiles are on faces walking around
Winter forgotten for one more year
Now couples dancing a saraband

Image found at https://pixabay.com/photos.happy-couple-happiness-love-4021036/

Spring's warmer days

The chill of winter shows it's face
No beams of greeting or of cheer
Heads now bowed against swirling wind
Umbrellas up for teeming rain

So we dream of spring's warmer days
We drive slowly in a downpour
Or throw sticks to our dog Bruce
Not just watching from window pane

How long 'til sweet Summer's song
First signs with Shrike Tit's sweet trill
Cold now gone, free to bare my knees
So dear Sun you do keep me sane

Image found at https://www.wombatbend.com/our-crested-shrike-tits-are-back/

Winter romance

Sally in winter

Winter is not a happy time
Whereas summer is sublime
Where one can play and love at ease
And watch the stars just as we please

At the beach I see much more of her
Whereas all others seem a blur
Cuddles are really much more fun
With much less things to be undone

Winter comes and shows its grey dome
And bitter cold freezes my bones
So I find I must limber up
And run about at a gallop

In fact it's like a cold valley
Such as with my girlfriend Sally
Who keeps shivering with the cold
So she in my arms I enfold

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/winter-cold-snow-christmas-frost-3052622/

Under the mistletoe

Yesterday the sun shone
But now she's fled, she's gone
Yet people's faces smile
Christmas is coming,she's been gone awhile

Despite the rain and cold
Shoppers are being bold
Buying before the rush
To miss the season's usual push and crush

I watch them, knowing well
Winter's better some tell
For their thoughts are not sad
As cruel winter's cold and snow drive them mad

They think food, gifts and fun
As round the tree kids run
Their faces all aglow
And lovers kiss under the mistletoe

Image found at http://hotkisstips.com/kissing-tips/why-kiss-under-the-mistletoe.htm

When you left me

Why now that winter is coming
Do you now write me a letter
Not that it makes me feel better
To say just why we had to part
Knowing that it would break my heart
Four years have you been my lover
Now I am lost, you have another

Cold as ice; No it is far worse!
Gone those eyes sparkling in the night
Gone your kisses beyond delight
Will I ever see you again?
Losing you is such awful pain
How can I start another life?
T'was you I wanted for a wife

Dark is my mood and dark the skies
Sun leaves earlier every day
Leaves have fallen, birds flown away
Winter winds howl with a cold rage
As my life turns another page
Was it really your lips I kissed
All in November's soaking mist

Image found at https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/bank-day-november-fog-landscape-mood_668985.htm

An Aussie's aspect on Winter

Now is the winter of your discontent
Made glorious summer in Australia
I don't say that winters were bad back then
In England with roast beef, cornish pasties
Pebbly beaches and memorable fogs
Probably all changed now, all European
Until of course they exit from EU
But that matters not to us here in Oz
A truly multicultural nation

Where our friends come from all over the world
Then there are the native people of course
Their land but the census didn't count them
Until a referendum finally 
Acknowledged they were people not fauna
Took us hundred and eighty years to accept
Meanwhile we enjoy weather that is not cold
Unless you climb up the mountains that is
Where it does snow sometimes (no guarantee)

So if you have that strange desire to ski
Best cross the Tasman sea to New Zealand
But as we are up-side-down we do this
In your summer and moan when it is cold
We also moan when it is too damned hot 
Well we moan all the time as a defence
We don't want people to see we're happy
It's the best place in the world; we know it
Don't tell anyone else; I'll clobber you!

Image of kangaroo in snowy vinyard found at https://www.washingtonpost.com/

The first two lines are of course paraphrased from Shakespeare's 'Henry V'

Sweet summer

Poppys days are over now
Autumn turns from green to brown
The cold of winter has come

Then breezes whistle wildly
Dead leaves now litter the ground
Skies are grey; snow yet to come

Sun now wears an orange frown
If it deigns to shine at all
From its face no heat does come

We add and subtract those days
Winter's hospitality
Then cuddle up; warmth please come

Whose idea to divide the year?
Beneath smirking fractious sun
Summer, sweet summer, please come

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/adarve-wall-sunset-trees-sky-93816/

I'm alone

I could tell it from your eyes
I could see it in the skies
The wind made a mournful sound
Soon this land would be snowbound

You sought to flee from the cold
No longer for me to hold
I crave your love, why break up?
I needed your loving cup

She's now gone and I'm alone
I hear the winds mournful drone
Rain lashes the window pane
Hope for letters all in vain

Snow is falling all day long
Not one bird singing their song
The cold silence shatters me
Just where on earth can you be?

I shopped today at the store
Stocked right up with food galore
Saw this lass with greenest eyes
Concentrating on her buys

I looked at her and she me
Both smiled, should have said "Yippee!"
Her eyes, nose, lips were the best
She's the one, I am impressed

Warmest winter I have known
So much better not alone
Spring's coming and birds they sing
I don't want for anything

Image found at http://www.myhomescience.com/hate-drafty-windows/

Rainy days

I wait for the tram

Watching the threatening clouds

Raincoat in my case

Then swipe my ticket

Find a seat by the window

Stare at the grey sky

She got on stop nine

Tall, dark, hair was all frizzy

Classic high cheeked face

She looked at no-one

But she knew I looked at her

I read the paper

Then the sky darkened

As I read her beautiful eyes

And her turned up nose

We reached the city

The rain poured down in torrents

At Town Hall she rose

Then I caught her eyes

And gave her my newspaper 

She took it grinning

Smiling in the rain

With that paper on head and

Unfinished crossword

From that day onward

We would both sit together

The crossword not done

Image found at http://sliceoflondonlife.com

We needed no words

I saw it in your eyes
That infinitesimal sign
The stirring of rapture
We met on the platform
Winter wind did nothing
To cool the ardor in us
It had been two long years
Nothing could stop us now
We needed no words

Image found at http://dulichhue.com.vn

44 words used including Infinitesimal, Rapture, Cool

Threads of longing

How I hate that mournful whistle
Just like a night train leaving
Now echoing though my mind
Of the day that you left me
With words that were so unkind

Life's full of broken promises
That gnaw at our grieving souls
Doubts right from the very start
Ringing in my fuddled brain
Since the days we've been apart

But wheels must keep turning
As fall turns to wintertime
With footprints in the cold snow
I'll cut those threads of longing
For your touch that set me all aglow

Image found at www.dreamstime.com

The Painter

The days of picnics are gone
Cold wintertime has returned
Swallows and finches now flown
Nails are hammered into coffins

Brittle ice, morning's greeting
As the wind sings a sad song
A good time for ancestors
To meet their relatives now gone

Next door scrawny kid cries out
Frozen hands can't open door
After running errand for Ma
While I watch from my studio

It is sketched on the canvas
That scene from my window
My cat looks out hopefully
Daubs of colour on cruel white

Paintings stacked against my walls
Much like an author's keen words
Gathering dust still unread
They call me the unbalanced one

Image found at favimages.com

Lazy Weekend

Winter warmth, me you bed
Under the blanket and quilt
While the wind whistles

So we laugh a lot
While birds peck and chirp outside
Checking for scraps

Can't stay here all day
She says, twinkle in her eyes
Yes we can I say

It is grey outside
Rain weeps against the window
It's our indoor day

I lift the covers
We are growing tired of this
And need a coffee

I'm in the kitchen
I hear her in the shower
She squeals with shock

So I join her there
Oh this is the spice of life
She cares not one whit

There's plenty to do
We love our lazy weekend
Back to work Monday 

Image found at www.smg.photobucket.com

Cold winter creeps in

Cold winter creeps in
Discontent settles abroad
Old Tawny owl hoots

It's a chill morning
Mists rise reluctantly now
The vines are withered

Icy tassels cling
Like frozen worms waiting there
To trap passers by

Splashed mud plasters all
To repair some unseen cracks
Of some mad tradesman

Wildlife has now fled
To their diverse safe havens
Birds to warmer climes

Animals sleeping
Dreaming of a glorious spring
Or such lucid thoughts

And me, you now ask
Just how then do I survive?
My love keeps me warm

Image found at www.pinterest.com

Spring's song where are you?

Spring's song where are you?
Please come back to us again
Chase the snow away

My eyes roam the skies
Search for signs in the bare trees
Crocus where's your bloom?

Let woodlands burst forth
Birdsong on every bough
Hung now with green leaves

Blow now southern wind
Stir all the cherry blossoms
Scatter the green lawns

And like you dear Sun
I'll be wearing a smile too
With you by my side

Spread your happiness
Warm me up to seventy
How I need you now

(Note 70ºF is about 21ºC)

Images 1 & 2 found at www.pinterest.com

Playful Whispers

The time had now come
I heard the playful whispers
Seasons were changing again
Leaves fell sadly to the ground
Autumn winds whistled a warning
First they teased then tormented
Preparing us for winter's might
Her long lonely frigid nights
The raven surely knew
He strutted cockily in the stubble

The sun was ashamed
For she barely showed her face
There was no warmth in her pale smile
Left to fend for ourselves
Our work was harder still
So much to do so short of time
Stubborn tools and reluctant earth
Cleaved to our bidding
As winter grasped us in her fist
Then sprinkled us with cold snow

Just when all hope was lost
I was greeted by a visitor
One bright morning 'twas a Robin
On my doorstep so cocky
Tilting his head, full of news
He tweeted that spring was here
I tossed some crumbs down for him
Soon he was joined by others
Heralding this joyful day
Rejoicing in nature's constancy

Note: This is an example of Pathetic poetry which uses human feelings and attributes for the natural world.

Image found at www.ceredigionbirds33.blogspot.com