October

All facing the same way, a florid rush

Of starlings settles down atop the beech

'til at a silent signal they explode

In twittering clouds of swirling abstract shapes.

By the front steps caterpillars swarm

Over the ornamental cabbages;

Rhododendrons bloom on railway cuttings

And small oaks hold their leaves in mottled green.

The evening sun cuts through the trees to light

A stand of birches, silvering the copse;

Two pheasants poke their heads above the ferns,

A chestnut mare stands cropping in the field.

           Tomorrow, frost may tear all this away,

           But its unexpected splendour marks today.

Brian Hick October 2008

© copyright 2021 S Hick