The Pain In Rain A drain And there's rain Mulched Oak and Ash leaves swirl, and drown Drawn down A paint box slurry of muddy brown Silence broods, till black throated gunnels thunder Anoraks flap Saturated grass There's a dash to water coloured cottages, mist apparitions, slate roofs steaming "It's teeming!" Yells, lost to the wind Butterfly brollies Dart Start Jerk into a disintegrating sky Each star a drip And I'm quick to catch The drop To flick the fleck of a tear before you see it

That Foreign Field 2014 Furrowed ploughed forehead Mangled turnip hand Chipped pebble eyes set rattling in the wake of the machine gun clatter of retreating combines Regimental buttons, silver seeds unsown Mire crimped tunic, crumpled Muddy flag of a trouser leg, flapping frantically,signifying victory Somewhere beyond a stunted lime tree line, a white handkerchief of surrender, rime embroidered, turning black, in a sky split puddle

RIME Shivered in the shadow of five skyward pointing Firs Reached for the breath of a Hare,made a bauble of it Made chimney smoke garlands,and music from the gargle and warble of a yellow flecked Thrush Rubbed the#moonlike a coin Slid on aluminium ice for miles Held fast the glimmer of a star Fashioned a bell of ice from a sheet of frost,let a Robin perch and peal inside Painted my face with the mauve of evening Went inside, closed the door.