1249

Julian's Sparrow

Little birdy in the tree

Do you see what I can see,

Or is your troubled sight

Oblivious to the coming night?

While you're perched there in the sun

Chirping out to everyone

Does that distant cloud not warn

Of the swift advancing storm?

Are you not afraid that soon

Wrapped in cataclysmic gloom

You may suffer, you may die,

Blighted, though you know not why?

Still you sing on, while I fret

Over things not happened yet,

Over thins that may not be

And my mind is never free

From weight of what I've done

What has been and what's to come,

And while I regurgitate

All the awfulness of fate

Little birdy in the tree

You sing on so prettily

Knowing there's no need to dwell

When God has said all will be well.

Brian Hick February 2013

©copyright Sally Hick 18.2.25

 1136

The tide is going out and where waves turn

Small patches of damp sand appear

Dark against the brilliance of the foam

Which idles on towards the rotting pier.

The wind has dropped and some folk even risk

T-shirt and shorts to jog along the prom,

While I lean here, watching the time run by

Unconcerned at what's about to come,

Accepting that the beauty of this day

Suffices - no - is more than I could ask

And far more than I could dare demand

Of life, which wraps its warmth around my hand,

And leads me on towards a greater task

Which lies in wait, somewhere along the way.

Brian Hick March 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 14.3.24

 Escape

Flicking - as men do - across the channels,

Post breakfast, just before I had to wend

My way to London for another meeting

I chance on Igglepiggle at the end

Of yesterday's repeat of the Night Garden

Gently flowing through the ritual chatter

Which brings each quiet story to a close.

Upsy Daisy sleeps and Makka Pakka

It tucked up warmly with his pile of stones,

Tombliboos lie snug.  Across the lawn

The Pinky Ponk has landed for the night

And all are safe until the next day's dawn.

          The star-boat sails away into the night

          And I recall that all that is - is right.

Brian Hick 6.609

©copyright Sally Hick 3.6.22