Graham Brown

 

mild Winter spreads into Spring

proclaiming snowdrops

 

before sticky chestnut buds

unfurl a fury of leaf

 

the cat chasing its tail, wonders

why I read so many books

 

the benches getting sat on by the rain

the damp in my lungs

 

so many reasons to be miserable, & yet

 

somewhere, deep as a ritual

a toddler re-arranging sticks

 

it's not only the snowy mespilus

that sings to itself

 

these are the gestures

of my mind, my garden

 

carry them to your body

your heart

 

 

 

 

From: After Kabir & Other Poems, Harping on Books, 2009