Hugh Mitchell Poems

No fish-merchant at the street's end now
'Palamut, palamut' no more
even the simit-seller walks on silent feet
the snow descends in feathered lumps
...

Good morning Mr Magpie
alone again, like me
I greet you then I bless myself
and hope that I shall see
...

This time I nearly didn't know you, Gaia,
elegant dancer; slow smiler
the children, of course, they knew you from the start,
knew you and loved you -
...

The germ of an idea came to me
Watching a botanist on my TV
He said a species could be recognized
as great by how much world it colonized
...

Down at the bottom of the world
amongst the snow and sleet
stands a lonely Emperor penguin
with an egg upon his feet.
...

A pair of herons flying from a ditch
wheeled low and elegant over the road
one flew too low - a sudden car
ended her gracious flight
...

Last night I had a dream of Ireland's Eye
wind-ruffled island of my childhood hour
- waves, restless seaweed, cliffs and gull-filled sky
the ruined church, the ever-watchful tower.
...

Waiting by the Bosphorus
for my daily bus
I saw the sun rise over Asia
watched the waves
...

I remember you
you were in my class once
you sat at the front
and ate a secret biscuit
...

Fiddling in deep pockets for lost keys
my fingers smudged with grease
again I bind my rusty bike
with rusty chain and rusty lock -
...