Outside

Outside

Black pheasant treads greening furrows
a raven gliding low

hung clouds squeezing rain
from porous sponge-boulders

and egrets step timidly
four lost children

a thrush sings
unseen among wet trees

where black earth
white-rooted oak leaf sepulchre

churned and stirred
by hungry pigs

stretches reaches deep
and imperturbable
as those bright jays.