poetry pantry – PoetryPix

“They dip their wings in the sunset,
They dash against the air
As if to break themselves upon its stillness”.

The hirondelles are here
hitchhikers on a temperate wind
out of Africa even before winter
had migrated North – perhaps they did not leave
after all, after that last September day
when the sun kept back reserves of heat
and insects ascended in the vortex

out of the thermals with piercing glee
the fork-tailed birds scythed
and boomeranged through swarms
fast food for the swift metallic saw-wings
a skim above our heads then dipping
sipping the bright tidal waters
hand in hand, faces upturned, we turned
roundabout with child-like awe
mesmerised by movements, those oh so
enduring moments before our world
tail spun into grief
– I’ve watched hirondelles here again
and the whole swallow summer is yet to be
only you will not return to see

Notes:
pre-edited image – free with Graphics Fairy
*opening verse ~”Swallows” ~ Leonora Speyer
Hirondelles – Swallows (Fr) – passerines of the Hirundinidae family