Colden Valley, Early Spring

Frost persists to afternoon
on one side of this valley
icicles depend
the shadow of the other bank
moves inexorably to the diagonal
never allowing the daylight to fall
here.

Rich textures of lichen
green elephant-hide of beeches
palest sienna of bracken
beckon in the March sunlight.

Here there are only stones of purest marble
frozen in small streams.
The brightest afternoon
cannot dispel the darkness
beneath these stunted branches.

from Penny Arcade, Poems 1978-82. Published by Jonathan Cape 1983.