Lately Poem by Mark Heathcote

Lately, I've been distant
Like a bulb, frozen in the ground.
Waiting for the warmth of sunshine
To be woken and found.

Waiting to push on through the snow
Waiting to be a green stalk of corn, lit by kerosene
To tremble in the coming new dawn
In the new dawn waiting only to be reborn.

Lately, I've been hiding in the reeds
Learning to swim again
Avoiding those grey herons on the shore
Who always lives alone?

Lately, I've been the lightning in the storm
Freshly born, feeding off the electricity
In the tempest of a moonscape in the torrent of a rainstorm
I've been precipitous and found myself aglow
In or on the path of a newly formed rainbow.

Lately, I've been distant
Like a bulb, frozen in the ground.
But now I'm turning over new ground
But now I'm learning to flower like a snowdrop
Without as much as a living sound.
Waiting for the warmth of sunshine
To be woken and found in the grace of time since yesterday.