A melting morning

After the snow
birds swim the sky
wings outstretched, exuberant
warmed by a light drizzle
falling on pear coloured fields
they drink in a saturated land


Gliding from cedar to spruce
great canopies of army green,
gulls alight from a satin sky
to branches covered in lichen
where pistachio ivy clings


Sweeping over a shrouded sea,
liquorice crows blotch the horizon.
Blackbirds gather
on the arching limbs
of my silver birch tree,
rejoicing
in a melting morning

Sea haiku

The sea seasons


bare feet sift soft sand
waves whisper foamy secrets
of bright days to come


sand shimmers with shells
waves tumble in unison
on a glistening day


shimmering sundown
a butter sun melts the sky
on a golden strand


sand laden waves
pound sea crusted rocks
cockles dig deeper

Rusty Clippings

The old lady who lives
in the house on the seafront
stands with rusty shears
trimming her hedge of purple Hebe.
elbows bent, she clips salty air
hoping for visits from passers-by.

A sprawling house
collapsing from years of disrepair,
her world exists in a solitary room.
Loneliness seeps from
faded rose patterned wallpaper.
Curtains sag, stale with senility.
A tired burgundy carpet
threads the stairs
to a forgotten world.
Framed photographs
stare from the mantelpiece,
their faces buried in her memory.

Her eyes look to the sea,
absorbed by the soothing swish of the waves.
Her life, held in the ripples
of an ever changing tide
and the rusty shears by the hedge.






© Maire Morrissey-Cummins