Lately Poem by Mark Heathcote

Lately, I've been distant.
Like a bulb frozen in the ground.
Waiting for the warmth of sunshine
To be awakened and found.

Waiting to push on through the snow
Waiting to be a green stalk of corn, lit by kerosene
To tremble in the coming new dawn
In the new dawn, waiting only to be reborn.

Lately, I've been hiding in the reeds.
Learning to swim again
Avoiding those grey herons on the shore
Who always lives alone?

Lately, I've been the lightning in the storm.
Freshly born, feeding off the electricity
In the tempest of a moonscape, in the torrent of a rainstorm
I've been precipitous and found myself aglow.
In or on the path of a newly formed rainbow.

Lately, I've been distant.
Like a bulb frozen in the ground.
But now I'm turning over new ground.
But now I'm learning to flower like a snowdrop.
Without as much as a living sound.
Waiting for the warmth of sunshine
To be woken and found in the grace of time since yesterday.