Winter winds
AND over Sussex hills and DownsThe keen wild wind goes roving'Cross sheep shorn slopes and ancient earthThrough everything I'm loving
It howls and freezes man and beast
It brings the cold snow drifting
To ancient, lonely Beacons high
Where ghostly shapes are shifting
Before the early morning light,
Through the pre-dawn, silver-white
A gentle ghostly fluttering down
Brings purity to sinful ground
Still sunshine blossom of the gorse
Gleams lonely since the sun rides low
Yet twinkles through the frosty coat
A welcome beacon in the snow
But nothing lasts except to change
And as the winter ages
Spring returns to vale and cliff
To show the new old pages.
Tony Gardner