PRICKLES | Lyrical Sunday – Catching the Magic

I’ve temporarily shifted hemispheres and seasons – from spring to autumn – from New Zealand to England. I’m walking country lanes untrodden by my feet for many years. I’m finding treasures I used to know so well – seasonal markers of the year in England. On Saturday I came across a sweet chestnut and it was the inspiration for my poem for this week’s Lyrical Sunday – with the theme of ‘Prickles’.

PRICKLES

A leaf littered lane, walked with careful tread.
Seeking – with painstaking care –
a heart opened bare.

A prickly case, so green, young and naive.
She clenched the prickles with her feet –
tore the seams apart.

The taste so sweet inside, once hers again.
The harvest of autumn –
after a summer of rain and blue.

She remembered then, how he’d held her hand –
gripped it tight, broke through the prickles.
Warm kisses on cold days –
tasting the sweet prize of golden hues.