For Lucy
It seems strange to say it but
we’ve been constrained to a limited space.
We do have the privilege of a garden.
It’s all relatively new to us. A blessing just in time
before the world got stopped.
We established our very own animal pub there-
it’s called The Grain & Shell.
Birds & squirrels
feed & drink
& fight &
dance & mate,
but this Winter the water in the shell freezes
first a below-zero ice-skating rink, then a small mountain of hard snow.
Thirsty squeaking little birds cannot break through it;
squirrels lick the frozen surface
then leave in clear disappointment.
Every morning after tea & coffee
we now put another kettle on & melt
the glacial, hazy and rigid mirror
& watch the lot steam up in the cold air.
(We do make sure it’s not too hot- we don’t want to scald the punters).
The Shell, these days, gets frozen
almost right away, these cold days.
Nevertheless we do persist.
It will get warmer,
in the end.
