Cherry Blossom On A Winter's Day
As unexpected as cherry blossom
On a winter's day
A Red Admiral in your huddled house
Wrapped around with snow
A low sun sinking gracefully gilds
The coldest band of drift
A bruised and livid sunset
Fleshed out with the colours of your passion
Venus rising
A perfect sky
The champagne I bought to bathe you in
Grows salt with every passed by hour
You wait, controlled, in your light-ship house
For your travelling hero to tumble back home
Amongst the hearts and wreathes
Your careful trimming
Of truths and promises
So clipped
They cannot fly
Beyond the frozen hill
Bound up with broken trust
And practiced sophists' skill
And yet
As my breath grows harsh
I live to love and want you still
At the little death I note date and time As unexpected as cherry blossom Tiny painted purple butterflies ©John Mackie, Banff , December 28th 2009
Christmas Eve 2009
On a winter's day
Eighteen months of sometimes joy
Bloom as
Hard frost on the heart.
A curtain of ice falls, holds, cracks
The once warm cascade of your voice.
On wrapping paper and
Soft familiar cloth
Stir to the low flame
Of a single German candle.
My eyes and legs
As slow as the lochan's floes
Gathering on the closing night.
