Paiku

Seven chimes
Pile up
In the sparkling meadow

Only Hare and I
Linger on
In the emptying fields

 

With the swifts gone
Only the swallows
Can stop summer leaving

Tractors crouch
Ready to chase
The dew from the fields

I’m kicking a crab apple
Down the long dappled lane
To autumn

Dark coppice
Wears as its badge
A single sunlit honeysuckle

 

Wind and distance
Make an unlikely gamelan
From the ice cream van chimes

Ticking wheatfield
Counts out
Summer

Clematis bud opens
A blue window
In the rain