Flaming June

 

Flaming June by Frederic Lord Leighton (1895), Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico

 

 

Somebody turned up the sun
(I thought the battery had gone).

Now I can't be sure
but the sky seems bluer.

A vast cast of flora and fauna,
shimmering with intermingularity.
I pause to take in the hazy daisies
swaying-sashaying in the gentle breeze
and the I Can't Believe They're Not Buttercups,
jostling as if at a free festival.

"Life, oh life..."
as Des'ree once warbled.

Stella, the goddess of beer gardens
calls to me from across the Hellespont.
I would repair there if I were able,
if it were not for my deep-seated
phobia of picnic tables.

Blackbird from Porlock
takes wing and breaks into my thoughts,
gimlet-eyed and cruel bastard-beaked,
the nefarious avian burglar.

Flaming June, you flew too soon.
Now for sodding July.


B.R. 09/06/2016
Northcliffe Park, Shipley

Bloody Terry and Flaming June