Lay for the Day13th March

A seasonal poem.

Grey Spring

Grey spring, and the lovers in arms
Tickle and pinch in their lunch-break,
Birds sing at night like car alarms
And flies half-wake
At noon, staggering in the rain
Among the rooftop’s greening weeds.
Motley pigeons pirouetting
Make a prelude to begetting,
Take up their mumbling amorous strain
Insistently till she concedes.

Pushing the jonquils left and right,
March, the month of many weathers,
Menaces their miniature height.
On stiff feathers
The city kestrel mewing
Hangs overheard, then stoops away.
May no lovers’ fondest petting
Be overture to regretting
And nobody’s buttons’ undoing
Be theirs, dear lord of love, we pray.

 

John Gibbens, from Collected Poems

The Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar

Home | Books | Music | Events | New work | Contact & ordering