wColour spiders ww3 May 2009

No-one reaches the
colour-spidered angels
suspended on rose weals

but tall-placed light
remarks on the handprints
of sequenced stones

and a painted bird
holds the choice
between noose and Cross

This is a poem of very simple origins, scribbled down while looking about me in the parish church of Saint-Genest in the village of Pieusse during a piano recital. The pianist was playing Ravel, one of my favourite composers. Pieusse is near the town of Limoux in the haut vallée of the Aude, in an area famous for its sparkling wines.