Capital snow

Star-feathers
     f-f-f-f-falling
softly
     softly
a light litter dusting
     the streets of London
coffee and indecision
     life catching its breath
left dangling in the moment
     the unrepentant pulse of life
that lives through us
     and in and around us
the flotsam fluff
     of icy condensation
teach yourself to be simple
     the simpler the better
make the music
     poetry to my ears

today is anyone’s guess
     shall I go
shall I eat a peach
     shall I take a stroll
on Whitstable beach
     it’s all hard-core Hamlet
down to the shore
     street snow is cheap insulation
but a reality check all the same
     perhaps too nature’s make-up
blush that masks the blemish
     blinkers us to a multitude of sins
and the birds curiously
     sensibly silent on the subject

     the eye enthralled
     by her shape
     a lover’s kiss
     I want no other

what now – we ask
     and for how long ?
a blanket of urban snow
     – paws – pause –
a peripatetic time for reflection
     time to watch our step
“I’ll watch mine
     if you’ll watch yours”
_____________________

discarded lines :

what angel wakes me
     in the dead hours ?
small talk
     apparently
of no consequence
     go back to sleep

a thin dusting of snow
     on her heart –
the snow long gone
     her heart too –
this wintry drizzle
     will soon fizzle out
roll on summer

John Lyons