Bedquilts

“At times I felt so happy I had to quit” Carver R Tess

Out on the field here
at dawn, and the rippled grass
and trees stood in small groups
of ancient growth, huddling close
and a grey mist, laying its
damp shawl freely on my skin
and a collared dove in the
oak tree, calling gently for its mate
and the blackbird and the greenfinch
and the bullfinch perched in the elm tree
puffing out his exotic apricot chest and
the gentle breeze of the dawn
blowing round me and through me
like all my dead leaves are being
blown away, and this morning
I felt so happy I had to quit
walking and lie face down
on the wet grass and smell
its meadowed sweetness and listen
to the deeper beat of the earths heart.
It was through that beating that I
heard you calling me home
for breakfast, you said
and I knew then that
here between the fresh clean earth
of the field, and your voice
is where I belong.

Eileen Neil