In late afternoon

In late afternoon

        and sharp southern light

        this hedge throws

        a dark double on cement.

        Indian hawthorn

        clipped to strict box lines

        of the Saturday afternoon

        mown lawn and edge routine.

        For forty years it has lain down

        a slow profile of the days

        in the neat order of its being.

        Neither jealous nor indifferent

        it guards in its custom

        a cottage

        from all that it keeps back

        from the street.

        Now as its shadow

        slips beneath its perfect recess

        into another darkness

        night shears its form into its own.

 These poems are from my new collection IN THE APRICOT DARKNESS (view the cover and contents below in my recent posts). They are now being published individually, daily under 'recent posts' on my blog and will be available shortly as an eBook that can be read online or downloaded for free.