Winter Parakeet

Refined 18th September 2022 from original 10th July 2013

A parakeet mindful only of food comes close to me on a low branch in the morning.

All around is cold and frost …and lone foggy breaths, one after the other in front of me.

Family away, the winter reaches into more than just my body.

Challenges made clear by the cold interplay around friends and colleagues, and the city and its people.

What is to become of us, this icy river underlying it all touching every moment, every thought.

I steel myself for the eventualities ahead, and walk on, wary of missing my bus.

Water Buffalo,
Nepal.