At attention
on the table, irises

hold tablets of sulphur
on their tongues. We’ve eaten

the bread out of the kitchen
and the eggs

Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow.

No one bleeds in fairy tales
except by sword or axe or
shards of glass falling from the sky.
If bleeding occurs, towers are built

I followed you
barefoot on pavement
just as I promised I would.

They say you looked back
but you never did.

1.
hovers over your bent umbrella
awash at spring’s edge
bruises the bluebells under the oak
as kerbside crocus face-off
puddled violets
drip through the cracks