World's Slowest Firework



Last night:
Rain on glass panes keeps me entertained, in pattern, in percussion. The view is dissolving in drops and the descent of darkness. An awareness flares, catches the heart of me in a healing flame: I picture it like a Christmas pudding, safe and warm under a dome of ignited rum. Maybe it is merely sleep hormones, maybe not; thoughts and feelings flicker in a balanced performance of shadow and light.

This morning:
Baby brushes my hair with the wooden hairbrush. I have a bruised temple to prove it. Reminds me of the phrase ‘that will knock some sense into you.’ We harness Dog to the pram and walk around the block of fields. Here the hedgerows are magical habitats, winding with wild rose, tumbling vetch of many colours: so many flowers I have not time to name them all. I note how the rose expands: a shoot reaches up, flails in breezes until the weight of leaves and buds arc it back to earth, to pop open flowers, circlets of sparking colour: like the world’s slowest firework. 




Comments

The Cranky said…
Your prose is hypnotically rhythmic, like being rocked to quiescence by a magically semi-somnolent fae.
24 June 2012 at 22:20
Author R. Mac Wheeler said…
Hi

Jumped over from Suze's blog.

I find there's often a camera in my hand, too. Visit one of my Sunday Safaris *smile*

- Mac
25 June 2012 at 15:38
Jayne said…
"...like a Christmas pudding..." Love the imagery here, Lily. Such a peaceful post. Just what I needed today. :)
25 June 2012 at 21:08
Anonymous said…
The rain here today was lovely, leaving pristine water-swept sidewalks & glistening grass.

Oh, I love the baby brushing your hair. Worth the bruise. ~Mary
25 June 2012 at 23:23
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you everyone- I shall be making return calls shortly- but being between houses do not have full use of internet so I might be a bit late- and my comments a bit rushed! Shameful really, when your comments are so lovely! :-)
26 June 2012 at 13:13
Kim said…
Oh my goodness - Suze did not lead me astray :) Such beautiful prose - I adore your description of a blooming flower as the world's slowest firework...
26 June 2012 at 14:18
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you Kim- Suze has marvellous taste- I was most pleased to discover your blog too!
27 June 2012 at 12:16
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Never-Ending Shed Story: Part Two

Image
Day 8: We waited for cooler hours before loading up the van, intent on finishing the shed build. The Shed Saga finale! We were optimistically wrong, of course, though the roof felt was tacked down, and both the fascia and the perched diamond of finial were drilled in. The field grass was looking parched, it was the colour of wheat biscuits. Crickets chirped- they always sound merry. We were hot and sticky like two marinated chunks. ‘It looks like a shed,’ we observed, surprised. ‘We should get the doors hinged!’ But our stomachs were growling and we were clumsy-tired. The doors would have to be another adventure. Meanwhile, it was time for cooking burgers in the van, for getting our stable sofa bed ready for a well-earned sleep, for setting up one table and two chairs under the sweep of the ash tree, looking down across the lower field as the sun dipped behind us and the nearly-full pink-faced moon rose up from the tree line on the opposite hill. We fetched out our reclining chairs, im
Read more

The Importance Of Losing When Pounced By Hyenas

Image
Work continues on preparing the flat areas for seeding with grass and clover. We have a new routine of stopping at County Tyres to fill the van with their cast-offs, before getting to the land, unrolling one bay’s worth of weed suppressant membrane, weighing it down with one line of stinky rubber and one line of soil dug from the stony ground. By then we are overheated, feel like we’ve been dunked in vaseline, decide that will do for the day, and snort at ourselves for thinking all of this would be done in a few hours. Usually, we head home for a nap, but sometimes we have company. On this particular day, we are hosting a family picnic- the gazebo is up, some rudimentary furniture is brought from the stable, the cold box is unpacked, salad is chopped. Grandchildren 6 & 7 are here with their Mum, they are ‘helping’ which they are surprised to discover does not include rolling the tyres down the hill. Being made to attempt to recover the tyres does dampen their enthusiasm- G7 informe
Read more

Dear Autumn

Image
This year, here, the Equinox has slipped by: not shy, not overlooked, more elegant, understated. This year, here, Autumn steps quietly, her satin gown spun from late summer sun, nut-bronze, gold-stitched. Her jewels are hedge-fruits, her crown is copperleaf. Where she steps the earth is rich with mulch, and tree branches bend, weighted by their crop. She is kind and stern, for all of this should be enough. We are in the garden, licking blackberry juice from purple fingers, picking out thorns, reaching for apples to eat, picking up windfalls to brew, glad to be here, this and every year. In our fields we pluck sloes, and more blackberries. Logs are stacked for longer nights. We feel the sun, smoothly warm, and the crackle of cold in the air: it is more than enough.  It is the seasonal rhythm of life. Dear Autumn, we thank you for this abundance, we honour you by the work of harvest and stores. When winter treads in you will be with us in jars, in hot bubbles of fruit, in the rich f
Read more