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Spring Equinox

Jean O'Brien

Now the air sweetens with spring
and clouds of starling rise from nearby fields,
their glossy blue/black plumage flaring in morning light.
Today day and night are equal length,
Gossen stones stand testament to time.
To the measuring of the days and dates
to rhyme and reason and to all the seasons.

The dawn light on this one morning
struck those grey stones at a precise point,
angels dancing on the head of a pin.
It gave them a moment of startling grace
and then the sun set off across the sky
biting back the day.

Almost blocking my sight
the flock of starlings rise like a noisy,
threatening thunder cloud.
They lift and fall dark fireworks
shadowy on my path.
The noise of their cries,
the beat of their wings gathers in
the clear air of spring.

Jean O'Brien is a Dubliner who recently moved to the Midlands. In 2005 she was writer in residence for county Laois. In 2007 her latest collection Dangerous Dresses was published by Bradshaw Books (Cork). She currently teaches creative writing in the Irish Writers' Centre in Dublin and elsewhere.