This strange April, we watch the daisies rise
on ragged lawns, ignored till it began;
lost traffic jam orphans, bereft of plan,
we jolt awake at solitary cries:
bumblebee’s zip, rattled laugh of magpies;
trembled whirs from blackbird’s wings force human
scrap to invoke childhood wont: to again
watch spring unravel beneath blistered skies.
Caffeine lusts mingle with a keen new need
to hear swift’s shrill yip, spot swallow’s forked cloak,
while flash red woodpecker swipes wifi speed
minds that strain to glimpse first frilled leaf of oak;
fresh breaths amid leaden lungs, may you breed
a love for nature we’ll never revoke.
Inspiration: My piece was inspired by walks in the early weeks of that strange period. Alone, I watched and discovered nature in a manner that both reminded me of my childhood and – given the circumstances – proved fresh and new, not least because many people around me appeared to be going through the same solitary yet uplifting process.
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Image by Klaus Böhm from Pixabay
