Wisdom not wealth was what I wanted.

Status and fame were not for me.

Now I can see it makes no difference -

they're all just forms of vanity.

 The first miracle is that the Universe exists.

The second that the Earth is so alive.

the third is Mankind.

The fourth will be if the second can survive the third.

Cultural tradition

When weeding beans he works too fast

and by mistake he cuts some down,

the farmhand's annoyance doesn't last

when dissipated by the sound

echoing down the centuries

(as long as there's no gentry round)

by Anglo-Saxon peasantries -

Oh, fuck !

Today from my high plebeian seat

the air is threaded by busy birds.

While many mammals are still asleep,

the sentinel magpies man the alerts

on the topmost twigs of the dormant trees.

As cruising seagulls glide nearby,

jackdaws in squadrons on spitfire wings

dance in circles till roosting high

they fill the air with their chatterings.

Sky turtle pigeons are sawing the sky

then resting to float like toy paper planes

creased by some little boy. The day

fades to dusk as the Spring sunshine wanes.

It's beginning to get too cold to stay.

Home ! where the little birds huddle the lanes.

We think we know how to do things

having done it that way for years

(and getting it right to the letter)

but always there are other ways

(and some of them might be better).

My God, she stunned in her white bikini

glowing against her deep tanned body

( although it might have been better hinted

than having a smudge of pubic hair printed )

( and embroidered nipples aren't quite seemly)

and then I realised That's not a bikini.

The advantage of winter is spring

when resurgence of life in a trillion trees

starts to net the empowering sun.

All the flowers and leaves that unfold

provide insects and cover to make the birds sing

and the nectar to fatten the bees.

The new cycle of nature begun,

even mammals and men must respond to the hold

of the temperate seasonal swing

from dejection when cold winters freeze

to the hope and the plans that soar up with the sun

making summer green worth more than gold.