A break in the rain

A break in the rain
Of November
A family of moorhens
Patter up a bank
Under the yellow leaves
Ghostly green in the middle
Clinging on -
Or maybe 
A moment of Spring 
For these brown younglings,
For me;
A kinder cold,
Visible soft -
Before half a moon 
Sinks us back into the season 
Of wishing it still
Was.

C. LJ Ireton 2023

The Ghost Captain

Gentle is the ghost behind the command -
Marching a memory
Of heartbeats
Lingering where earth would meet
Percussive feet
In polished shoes

And masked face -
Sharp instruction fills 
The space
Where pacing 
Won't outpace the past -
Gentle is the ghost behind the command 
When the Last Post shouts into another realm
Of night, quiet, silent thoughts
Louder is the order, then
Yet soft as the soil,
Tapped in tandem
When there was another,
And control felt closer.
Gentle is the ghost behind the command -
The old clock chimes
See-through secrets 
Under the
Sound. 

C. LJ Ireton 2023

After the rain

Out of the mud marshes of Middle England, 
Rainbows rise wide and down.
At their source, molten silver has pooled
Around mounds of stubborn grass,
Making the brown sludge beautiful 
And white birds, not minding the shallow,
Sit on the sheen, 
Dotting the water under the distanced trees
And tantrum-tired sky.
The spectrum draws eyes over the sodden

Landscape, the leaden background -
But the gulls only look forward 
Resting on the reflected light,
Making fields the sea. 

C. LJ Ireton 2023