…my halcyon

There is a place beyond the restless hills
where the wind is quiet and gentle
and where the trees stand together in silence
as though sharing an ancient secret
that they have promised, to never to reveal
I found it once, at the edge of an winter afternoon
after the last storm had exhausted itself
the sunlight silently spilling through the branches
in their long strands of amber and gold
the river was almost motionless, a silver ribbon
resting between moss-covered stones
carrying the reflections of clouds, towards a distant sea
even time, seemed to have stopped watching the clock
a dragonfly hovered above the reeds
its bright translucent wings, catching the light
I remember in the moment, thinking this was my halcyon
a place, that finally resembled peace for me
when the rain still drips, from the tips of the leaves
and the earth releases its dark perfume, into the air
it is here that I find my peace, my halcyon
in the silence between one season and another
before winter begins to speak of endings
a slow drifting butterfly, silently alights upon a single flower
that is somehow blooming here alone, out of season
the birds are slowly folding their wings
as the evening is slowly drifting in
and a sky full of moonlight
is patiently waiting behind the horizon
the darkness gathers around me, like a soft cloak
and in the moment, I belong to nothing and no-one
©Ann Bagnall