New Leaves
For LM
There is a moment,
just before the beginning,
where the light slides up the walls
to avoid oncoming traffic
and is draped boldly over buildings
until it is one bright, burning canvas
with house fronts sketched loosely on,
ready to be washed away
by the incoming ending.
There is a moment,
as the very air breathes slowly in
and the darkness of the sky above
accentuates the bright aliveness below-
and the whole of Oxford unfurls, lily-like
begging for the sky’s caresses.
There is a moment,
just before the world collapses inwards,
when all the corbels, the towers,
the rooftops, the old college doorways,
the pub fronts, the bus stops,
the cobbles, the church spires,
the gnarled and twisted trees
that lean on the fences of University Church:
when all of Oxford undresses,
and waits for the wash of the rain.
And we two will stop
somewhere out in those streets,
and leave our busy lives behind
to lean on the wall with our bicycles
as we walk, hand in hand, down to the meadows
watching the water trickle down each other’s hair.
Just in that moment.
For LM
There is a moment,
just before the beginning,
where the light slides up the walls
to avoid oncoming traffic
and is draped boldly over buildings
until it is one bright, burning canvas
with house fronts sketched loosely on,
ready to be washed away
by the incoming ending.
There is a moment,
as the very air breathes slowly in
and the darkness of the sky above
accentuates the bright aliveness below-
and the whole of Oxford unfurls, lily-like
begging for the sky’s caresses.
There is a moment,
just before the world collapses inwards,
when all the corbels, the towers,
the rooftops, the old college doorways,
the pub fronts, the bus stops,
the cobbles, the church spires,
the gnarled and twisted trees
that lean on the fences of University Church:
when all of Oxford undresses,
and waits for the wash of the rain.
And we two will stop
somewhere out in those streets,
and leave our busy lives behind
to lean on the wall with our bicycles
as we walk, hand in hand, down to the meadows
watching the water trickle down each other’s hair.
Just in that moment.