Last Weekend

Last Weekend

The weather has been glorious again
But I think it will be our last weekend
Before we close the house for winter.
The last inhabitant of the oldest house
Has left.

Our kindly neighbours gave us a bottle
Of their home made brandy, and they promised
Us some meat when they slaughter their pig.
The last inhabitant of the oldest house
Has left.

We're both sad for the loss of our hedgerow
And several trees in the orchard since
The workmen widened the village road.
The last inhabitant of the oldest house
Has left.

You know that rare black squirrel I mentioned
Before, well, it's been seen again hiding
In a shadow in the tallest pine.
The last inhabitant of the oldest house
Has left.

On Sunday we wrapped up all the young
Fruit trees to protect them against frost and
Deer, before clearing the lawn of leaves.
The last inhabitant of the oldest house
Has left.

Next year we are thinking
To enlargen the garden.
The last inhabitant
Of the oldest house
Has left.

.

sitting on a tram

sitting on a tram
and over hearing
a conversation
beginning, 'imam
feeling,' mixing two
languages each word
understandable
plainly and without

thought. But it was the
combination that
confused and left me
momentarily
wondering which one
was my mother tongue.

.

SPRING RITUAL from Field Songs

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Spring Ritual

Three figures approach the house all dressed
and made up and plant themselves in the garden.
The boy has a tambourine tapped to
a certain rhythm accompanying, on cue,
his two female companions,
who link their arms
and roundly dance
in one direction
then the other
back again
holding their hats
and ruffling their skirts
at every turn.

A melody is faintly audible, a soft murmur
picked up by the breeze carrying the sound
across fields and into the embryonic ears of the
soonly-sprouting corn and the blossoming buds.
They have been waiting all winter for this.
It should be a good season, they tell me.

.

from FIELDS SONGS

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