footsteps
birds singing
trees swaying
your breathing
Poetry?
he read her a poem
he read her a poem
a glass of cool water
on a summer’s night
I stayed awake
I stayed awake
all night
to ensure my heart
did not burst into flames
in the morning
the clouds were red
memories
through the mist
memories
stand heavy as horses
weight tilted
through muscle and bone
patiently waiting
seeing – finally seeing
running
thought free
one’s heart travels
to where one longs to be
on Valentine’s morning
on Valentine’s morning
in my dreams
I hold you in my arms
asleep
dreaming of warmth and security
and what we shall do
when we awake
expectation
snow falls from an empty sky
a single tear from your cloud-blue eyes
too many tomorrows
too many tomorrows
never arrive
too many tomorrows
for the rest of our lives
too many tomorrows
that should be today
too many tomorrows
when I do not dare say
sunrise or so
sunrise or so it must have been
beyond the fog the castle
beyond the clouds my thoughts run wild

What did we do?
What did we do?
(the physical)
(the thoughtful)
(the spiritual)
(the self)
we saw through the sadness
joy
a single diamond in the silence
reflection connection direction
community solidarity
we saw who we are and the people we can be
we brought the different together
and we worked and we worked
and we did what we could for one another
simplicity clarity creativity
feeling healing
we understood as much as we could do
we did all the new that we could
we sensed the taste of the great outdoors
and we fell in love with the world
(the physical)
(the thoughtful)
(the spiritual)
(the self)

First published on the National Galleries of Scotland website December 2020
Idea, words and image by US.
What did we do? We wanted something good to come from 2020 so we:
- asked friends and strangers for positive words from 2020
- turned the words into an image
- grouped the words into thoughts and
- turned the thoughts into other words (the poem).
Thank you to every one who helped.