Rude Awakening

RUDE AWAKENING


The telephonic shrill
urgents me
blearily into dawn.

Discomfited I roll
myself across
a seeming endless

counterpane,

set foot
on an insecure floor,
retrieve the handset

and receive
a droning earful.

Bliss was it in that dawn
to be asleep,
to be awakened serves

to remind oneself
they’re far from heaven.


Malcolm Evison
4 August 2007

CONSULTATION

Splash Into Spring

During the past few years, as a person with ME/CFS, the garden pond proved a real haven, away from the restraints imposed by the domiciles four walls. Having been invited to contribute to this new blog, this poem (which emerged as I sat by the pond this afternoon) seemed an appropriate introduction.

SPLASH INTO SPRING

A sprinkling splash,

a sudden flash

of ruddy gold -

the first spring stirrings.

A long, slow, turgid rest

supplanted

by these vital chimes.

Today

they share the sunshine's joy -

and ripple wilfully.

Last seasons debris

stirred and shaken,

the fish escape

their sedimentary rest,

herald the promise

of brighter days to come.

Like me, they must have felt

they'd plumbed the depths

for far too long.

Malcolm Evison

14 March 2007