Category: Uncategorized

by Sandra Arnold

IT WAS HARD to see on this road in the clinging dusk. She could barely make out the silhouettes of the old pit heaps towering above the rooftops in the distance. They had once been familiar landmarks in the district before the coal mines were closed and the heaps demolished and recycled into road construction. Though not before one uncle had died of silicosis and another when the mine shafts collapsed. She used to have a ritual when she was young, peering out the window from the upper deck of the bus on her way home from school. As soon as the bus reached the top of the hill and the pit heaps became visible, she closed her eyes and made a wish that she could grow wings and fly over their peaks, over the landlocked town with its soot-blackened buildings, over the forests and oceans to…

Delicate leaf

delicate last leaf,
succumbs to strong gust of wind,
as a new leaf springs.

Spring Beauties

bees dance eagerly,
around vibrance of roses,
stashing up nectar,

cuckoo’s joyous song,
calls to open summer blooms,
melody’s rhythm.

Summer Relief

crows pause awhile to,
seek elixir of life, those,
endless summer days,

colours splash across,
as rainbow draws curtain to,
a much awaited spell,

orange flowers,
brighten up dull city roads,
long past summer days.

Winter’s round the corner  

as lakes fill up, seek,
refuge from winter at home,
migratory birds,

brightest star takes break,
and darkness hurries to dawn,
know winter’s around,

remnants of fire,
warming up memories from,
a cold winter night.

An Emperor’s Penance

journeys into middle of an ice-filled
landscape, guards an egg, his very own,
freezing, battling unearthly climes,
in company of his men,
journey to fatherhood,
after lady lays,