You left me vases of flowers that did not die
A lemon yellow sun in the cobalt sky
A written instruction I was never to cry
All I wanted was to unhear goodbye
flowers
Roses are red
Roses are red
So is blood
Resting after training
legs stretching, muscles wire tight
eyes closed in the indoor sunlight
every seven minutes a daffodil crackles open
Last petals falling
birds rise as one, calling to comrades
low sun flickers on flowers and wingtips
That cyclist hasn’t
That cyclist hasn’t thought through the whole flowers-in-the-backpack situation. Pedestrians are showered with petals like confetti. Some smile and hold hands more tightly, others brush petals from their faces. Perhaps tears. The cyclist speeds on. At his destination, perhaps a red-brick block near the bypass, disappointment waits with its usual patience.
Poems tell the truth
Poems tell the truth
Like cherry blossom falling
On cold Spring mornings
Game
A game of innocents, collecting flowers. Buckled shoes, smiles and hay fever sneezes. Then a cloud across the sun and cold shadow.
Olfaction
Since the physician-induced coma following the second stabbing, the only smell I can distinguish is that of jasmine. How precise and pernickety our nerves and brain cells must be, that the odours and flavours of rose, of dog rose, of honeysuckle and of tiny wild orchid are all lost to me but jasmine remains. And grades of jasmine at that – how long it has been open, the time of the day, whether it has been shaken or lightly crushed, all of these make a difference. How wonderful are our brains; how wonderful the shades of jasmine.
Jeanie’s birthday
Jeanie’s birthday dress was cotton white and crisply ironed. She wanted to wear it in the box. The flowers they had brought her were white too, with the odd speckle of violet for her eyes. She held the loose bunch to her chest as she lay back in her armchair.
“Those candles you’ve put on my cake…. Bless you, you couldn’t fit a hundred on there, could you? Those candles, put them round the box when I go. I’ll blow them out before they burn down. That’s easy. Now the fire needs to burn down to embers and away. I’ll close my eyes and leave you. I’ve waited too long for this day.”
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, held the flowers a little tighter and breathed out.
Now in memory only red flowers grow
We walked slowly round the ruins of the old town, destroyed years before by the victors of that time. Now in memory only red flowers grow.
