Raking over old ground
The simplicities of childhood
that we carry with us all our lives
hope springs in springtime
new life and lambing in the fields
daffodils grown and bought in bunches
the lighter evenings
and a lighter heart
the earth freshly groomed
and the prospect of love
Resurrection and endless return
the promise of the coming months
our pulses fired by the sun
and our delight in the swifts
and swallows that return to the air
No trace of their human shadows
down by Shad Thames
last year’s love nest abandoned
the blinds drawn
and she gone south
to nurse her shattered dream
to displace the memory
of all that she had
of all that she so carelessly and yet
so wilfully threw away
John Lyons
