With saucer brown eyes
I sit with motionless intent
watching each deliberate movement
mine and yours
By cover of night
I move with slow stealth
reaching for trees, chewing bark
under the radar of slithering skies
A faintly lit window
reveals your anguished pace
spasms, searing pain, grimaces
trembling hands circle a lower back
In this mirror-like world
your activity slows to mine
 restrictions sealed in fated time
etched across backbones of decay
Our eyes grow moist
yours in spikes of pain
mine from tender grasping
a shared branch across the ages
In your sleep
I will enter your dreams
and fill all your tomorrows
with the graces of moving slow
© Don Gordon
Picture 10188859, engraving, circa 1880, image copyright Mary Evans
Originally from Toronto, now living near Liverpool, Don Gordon is an emerging poet with a particular interest in travel and eco-poetry, using a wide range of poetic forms including haibun, sonnet and free verse. He has taken several courses in creative writing at CityLit and his writing is informed by a career working in conservation and education, including 10 years teaching students with learning and communication difficulties. He also has a background in Mindfulness and recently wrote a chapter on the effects of mindfulness on children with autistic spectrum condition in the publication Mindful Heroes: stories of journeys that changed lives (Inspired by Learning, 2019). A keen outdoorsman, Don has hiked large sections of the Appalachian Trail and has always enjoyed the poetry of authors such as Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry in their appreciation of the natural world. One of the projects Don is currently working on is writing a collection of poems aimed at addressing the climate and biodiversity crises that we are currently facing.
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