End of an Afternoon
Slow drift? Or a snow drift?
We were watching a skein of geese
crossing the salt marsh, in-bound
from The Netherlands, perhaps,
or Lincolnshire. Their strong wings
kept them just a little beneath
the wind and enough above the reeds
to land, finally, in the willows’ lee –
a small flat space we knew well,
where, during an earlier visit,
we’d seen otter pups playing.
One moment, the afternoon to come
was long and the sky was large
with flat-land light. The next,
we only had grey clouds darkening
the air and a smear of snow
flittering across our eyes.
The geese, too, fell silent and we
packed our chairs and glasses.
Walking home, our deep-soled boots
pressed snow and mud into mush
on a path alongside the fen.
Oliver Comins lives and works in West London. Recent work published in Poetry Review, Scintilla and The Rialto as well as on-line in Meniscus. Yes to Everything received a Templar Poetry Portfolio Pamphlet award and was published in Spring 2015.