Alentejano Autumn

Sheen of green
spreading over our sunburnt Land
Can you see it?
"Nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things"
(Gerald Manley Hopkins)
Newborn calves and lambs
Clinging to their dams
Snails everywhere
First asparagus suddenly there
Proliferation of flies
Asphodels opening wide
Ants on wings
Olives - and oranges - ripe on the ground
Clouds skittering across blue skies
Sun, then rain, then sun again
Hoopoes calling
Lake levels rising -
Our second Spring.

Gratefuls: all the above, except for the flies.