This Is The Picture (after Peter Gabriel)

We took some rest in rural hours and left food for the birds
all through winter, awaiting some kind of return –
revolution and resolve fitting together –
until a chuckle of spring
brought sleepy beaks back to remembering all the words
they had covered with hums since dark
took light into equal measure
and these excellent birds once more show off their throaty tricks –

to a Lady sitting within a window, the feathers she thought
to be coal-black are – by just a turn of light – red!
In realisation we are lost for words, now
awake to a remembered future that comes twitching through branch-light;
buds and blossom bring the picture back
into focus, to be framed in green –