Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined. He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent;there is nothing so quick, nothing more patient. England’s past has been borne … [Read more...]

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a … [Read more...]

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font.The firefly wakens; waken thou with me.    Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.    Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,And all thy heart lies open unto … [Read more...]

The grey sea and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low; And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.  Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; Three fields to cross till a farm appears; A tap at the pane, the … [Read more...]

We have shared many years though I am the younger I came upon you in the spring you called, I answered. Despite the wind and rain, snow, and ice the cruelty of the knife, you rise every summer glorious royal red a king’s blood – but deep within your roots the purest, whitest heart shines. Copyright (2019) M J Christie First published in Intimately Intricate … [Read more...]