Spring cleaning

Last night the wind
           so fierce
and rain lashing
           at my windows
woke me
           in the early hours
a storm from the west
           shaking the trees
tearing at the leaves
           and water seeping in
through the skylight
           and this morning
the branches still
           agitated waving
wildly and the birds
           curiously silent
foxes gone to ground
           a rehearsal
for harsher days to come
           out with the old
a spring cleaning
           held every autumn
to renew the face
           of the earth

John Lyons