Le Printemps Arrive

Gentle chill
mingles with
February sun
to warm my bones,
and prick my skin with cold. 
Lake calm
sleep breath waves
expose the broken shells
that make up the earth, and
keep the land believing in winter. 
When I lived in the U.K. the first sunny day of spring would burn itself onto my memory with relief from the cold, joy in the warmth, and anticipation for the summer to come. Most years I would write a poem on that day about my excitement (such as 'I have missed the sun' written in April 2011). 

 Now I live in Montpellier in the south of France, that feeling comes a little earlier in the year. This year it was towards the end of February, when we were at the beach near Sète for the day. It was warm but the (relative) cold of winter was still clinging to the air. The feeling given by the weather matched the relief and thankfulness we feel at finally moving into our flat here in Montpellier. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 8 or 9

Image
Confinement, A melting pot reaching boiling point. Neighbour's needs clash,  Irritations become sparks. Tiny kingdoms close in on their kings, Yet tiny kindnesses shatter walls. Cold weather confines further And our neighbours rattle inside their shells As our boy bounces off the walls Of our little world, Where the music is constant And his breathing always  Sets the tempo of our hearts And the rhythm of our sleep. This little poem was written the 24th and 25th of March, 8 and 9 nine days into the lock-down here in France.  We're doing well, trying to keep creative as keeping our little boy entertained takes up most of our time. Things can get a little tense between neighbours in all this. We've had to encourage our nocturnal neighbours into a healthier rhythm as they kept waking Gabriel. Please be considerate and patient with each other, especially if you live in a flat.  And while your locked in, get to know the poetry of M...
Read more

An Array of Vapour - Matthew Heasman's endorsement and New Hope

Image
My debut Poetry collection "An Array of Vapour", published by TSL Publications, is now available for purchase here:  https://tslbooks.uk/product/an-array-of-vapour-peter-lilly/ This blog post is about Matthew Heasman's endorsement of the book, and the work of New Hope . It was an honour to work under Matthew's leadership at New Hope, and I am very humbled by his kind words about me and this book.  For those who don't know, New Hope is a local charity to Watford, just north-west of London, providing support, advice, food and shelter for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. They have a variety of different housing services ranging from emergency beds in the night-shelter, to medium term move-on accommodation, as well as drop-in services, a soup kitchen, and a support for those who have previously been homeless, to help them sustain their recovery.  In my five years working for the charity I had four positions in three different projects, but all ...
Read more

The Vine and the Branches

Image
Photograph of a vineyard in Les Cévennes, by Silje Lilly. Taken in July 2017. John 15:1-8 Gleaning grapes before October storms, the vines are ancient fingers, deathly-dry and knotted digits. bark-scarred with the wisdom of growing. They are crowned with a branchy vibrancy, of greenery, naivety and fertility. The miracle of the vine and the branches is the fruit. The credulous branches, are trusted to bear the weight of the yield, their green luminescence is continually fed by the vine that looks like deadwood.  A Lamb looking as though it had been slain. I wrote this poem in the Autumn of 2016 while I was in a vineyard on the outskirts of Montpellier, where Silje and I live, in the south of France. We were picking grapes after the harvest and enjoying time reading and writing in the autumn sun.  Silje took the photo in July 2017 while in another vineyard in Les Cévennes, a short drive north. Time and a...
Read more