I watch raindrops caught in netted patterns on the window
They are wintry bright faces wearing little black caps
Today in the wet streaming streets it is difficult to see
Who is who all hooded and shielded against the bleakness
Every year this happens across the northern world
A dark bonnet encases Earth like the shell of a conker
Each year seeds offer up their life to the soil
And there a great and erotic emptying occurs
Yet this year something is bursting quite untimely
The usual fidelities of nature queerly divorced
We carry on our parades yet all the isles are now full
Not with good flavours but tasteless disillusionment
Our myths crushed so their expectations lie exposed
Revealing an unwelcome truth that reality is not shiny
It is granular and it is high time for things to be sorted out
This is coming to us in the street as we go about our shopping
As we put out the rubbish this grit gnawing in the mind
Like a hoof behind the brow or hidden pearl of wisdom waiting
And from deep waters to the landscapes of every country
Species familiar to a generation are dying every day
I watch raindrops caught in netted patterns on the windows
Their bright faces wearing little caps glisten and smile
The glistening bursts salt water gently from my eyes
My cheeks like wet pavements glow with strange hope