Conscience

as taught her by the nuns   was a bridle
on a young girl’s tongue   pony frolic legs
a choke-hold   on convolvulus excess
seductive as leaves skittering over moon
scatter grass   dandelion pappus   weighted
with girlish longings   a burr   hooked
onto the undercarriage of a rook in flight
that   b r e a k i n g f r e e   nuzzles into earth’s
amorous embrace   wooed by rhapsodies
of amoral worms   nurtured by clouds   lavish
as a toddler’s sulk     blasé gaze of wolf   or super moon
till a blackbird at spring’s edge pipes their tarantella

stirs the first tousle-headed dente-de-lion
sun-gold tongues ravishing a winter-drowsy bee

Pratibha Castle – a finalist in FFP Award, shortlisted in Fish, Live Canon and Bridport Prize, published widely including Under the Radar, Lighthouse, Stand, was awarded third prize in Sonnet or Not. Her pamphlet Miniskirts in The Waste Land was a PBS winter selection 2023.