While the garden fulfils
Its breakfast of birds, cats and plants
In the darkest grove the sun crouches
Like a hunter
Waiting to ignite the day
Under an air-raid of falling fruit
I pull up the long grasses
Like summer socks over my ankles
While we engage in tender dances
Beneath a parasol of an orchard
I’m deaf to the saxophone
And the shelling around me
Just hearing your words drift down
From the breeze like leaves
The ribbons in your hair tearing free
And scribbling brightly in the air
No sharp elbow in my joyful heart
Just the coins of reflection the sunlight
Throws down upon the table
If love dies here today I’m happy to return
To the carnage of the battlefield
And perish amongst the mud and wire.
Having known what two hearts can feel.
.
Malcolm Paul
Picture Nick Victor
.