On Ormaclete Beach

The sea picked up it's skirts and ran,
leaving silver strands behind,
and pebbles nestling in the sand
for tiny turnstones to find.

Night Visitor

The silence is tranquil.
Eyes close gently and I feel
a soft breath beside me as my friend sleeps.

Then a sound.
I listen.
I try to decipher
then nothing.

Eyes close.
The quiet sleeping of my friend
does not disturb me.
The sound comes again -
a distant rasp of a click clack.

Click clack; trick track, brick brack;
Ceaseless, getting louder.

I lie awake
A smile pulls at the edges of my mouth.
Sleep is no longer important because I want to listen.

I know this sound.
I stay awake
revelling in the privilege
of sharing the night with
an insomniac corncrake.

The Blackbird's Wing.

A bee hovers
humming quietly
as it flirts with a rose.

I sit,
patient,
waiting
to hear the swallow sing
and see the dappled sunlight on a blackbird's wing.