I stand before you
Clean and sober,
No doubt some of you already wishing
...
I've got the viral blues,
Empty supermarket,
Panic-buying,
Out of the fire into pan-frying,
...
See the rushing shining water,
See the flowing River Tees,
From the hills and farmlands yonder
All the way down to the sea;
...
When I attempt some home repair
I find Incompetence lives there.
He skulks and sulks to my despair,
...
Here's the time for us to sever,
May be for now, may be forever,
Maybe a sad, slow, parting kiss,
Maybe a sibilant serpent hiss;
...
If I watch a hawk hover,
As she hangs on her wings,
And I wonder at her stilled flight-
Do I distract myself with its meaning
...
The other day I saw a crow
Swoop at a gull on a neighbour's bin,
Disputing salvage rights, I thought,
Although those rights are rather thin;
...
There's a thing of which I would speak,
Not in Latin, and not in Greek,
If it can be said at all
It can be plain.
...
My neighbours like to line-dance in the street,
Pre-programmed moves an intricate, co-ordinated, feat
Bespeaking fellow feeling,
Going beyond the urge to meet
...