saturday

At noon across the street from our study-bedroom
There was the gentle but full sunlight and the daffodil stalks, six inches tall, ringing the plane trees.
Earlier, when the sun had barely risen, I found brittle ice on the pond and the frogs frisky beneath.
5 am starts this weekend, lots of assignments to mark.
Now it is night and I'm in front of a log fire, wood quick to burn since the ash was scooped out.
On the Chatsworth table, great aunt's legacy, lies John Cowper Powys' Maiden Castle,
Macdonald edition, 1966, typewritten review copy slip included;
I noticed this evening how the pages' print is slightly blurred;
Still, a precious book, its first line sunrise.