A Haiku Through The Seasons

January to December 2016, Martin Maudsley

 

January

Dark path
Beneath bright night sky;
Stumbling amongst stars.

New moon of the New Year
Brings new inspiration;
Following the old ways...

February

Pale-yellow primroses
Fluorescent, florescent will-o-the-wisps
Leading deeper into the woods.

Walking through the night
Pale ghosts of snowdrops
Luminous in the moonliness...

March

Garden bonfire,
The embers of a brimming day,
Blackbird sings-in the gloaming

Morning walk
Littered with gold
Celandines coruscating in the sunshine

April

Blackcaps' bubbling singing,
Effortless rushes and gushes,
In praise of the greening of trees.

Lying amongst bosky bluebells
Dreaming of green dragons
On the feast of St George

May

Old railway line
Hunting butterflies -
Caught by a cuckoo 

First scream of swifts
Rising cream of summer
Bringing warm air on welcome wings

June

Delicate bramble blossom
The sweetness of sunshine
Nourishing flourishing wings

Hogweed high as my head
Nettles up to my nipples
Summer's profusion scented with elderflower

July

Swimming in summer's secrets
A watery world seen
Through dragonflies' eyes.

Iridescent green
Beetle on barley
Bronzed by the sun

August

Summer's colours
Seeping away;
Spiders creeping in.

Picking blackberries with my daughter
Harvesting my own childhood memories;
A profusion of ripeness

September

No more soaring wings:
First bite of autumn
Leaves me un-swallowed

Morning after Michaelmas
Still picking blackberries
Defying the Devil...

October

Autumn-tinged hedges
Along the old Roman road
Moonbow glimmering in the mist.

Standing still in the dark woods,
Storm-tossed and lost;
Suddenly showered with falling gold

November

Soaken oaks
Dripping in the darkness
Amongst sodden, trodden leaves

Old sycamore

Craggy-limbed and shaggy-skinned

Last leaves rattling in the wind

December

Hoar-frosted morning:
Sprawling hawthorn,

Calling wren defends her tree.

Full Moon before Yule
Sinking slowly into

The rising morning.