21st August 2019
[forest]
Beneath a Summer’s Foliage
Unconditional shelter,
woven in green and sunlight
that sways an easy largo
in a soft soft prayer to the sun.
Your tendril yawns
(August afternoon)
down to lazy tickle the earth
who ripples quite softly
(with a playful shimmer)
under your sun-scorched house.
And, later on,
an Aeolian gust tempts you into a waltz
and you — quite meekly — consent
to be guided:
Thus, together you dance.
Each leaf whispers
a flirtatious glance,
as you rustle under his gaze.
This invisible caress
which your branches embrace
sings of sun-burnt mirth to the skies.
And here I lie under this scene:
Juliet of Green Leaves
Coyly smiling.
I smile too
and am grateful for you,
For your
Unconditional shelter,
woven in green and sunlight
that sways an easy largo
in a soft soft prayer to the sun.
[I wrote this while sat under a tree in Regent’s park in the summer of 2019, waiting for my then-girlfriend to return from a trip. There was something about the weight of the august air and the pregnant quality of waiting for your love, that is all flirtation.]