Three Poems by Byron Beynon

CAPE TRIBULATION

We witnessed the rare and tropical rainforest
  as it nears the waterline,
    the movement of an endangered creature
that stirs from hiding to drink.
  Creeks inhabited by crocodiles,
    the cable ferry
        slips cautiously over the face of the Daintree.
The poison peach tree
    startled into focus
      by the ghosts of fires.
Sands that gather driftwood,
  the discovered cape
    sirened by the unseen
      dangers of the reef.
The ruined wind, with the leaves
  creates a distant sound.


BLACKBIRD

Alert to the world he knows,
a voyager of shrubs and intimate trees
the unwavering rhythm of his map
he returns to contemplate
the pure and serene.
Without hopes and fears
he edges towards that otherness
where shadows stir,
familiar with the art of sunsets
his eyes observe life's gallery,
one of nature's philosophers
impatient for the light to break.


MAES Y CAPEL

They cut down the trees
at Maes Y Capel,
built roads, houses, put
pipes and cables
where roots once ran.
The birds no longer
return to their vacant heights,
evicted without appeal.
In the wooded night
when the air's breathing
softens the atmosphere
trapping sighs,
shadows lengthen
reaching up
at the sky
where they fly
without impediment
telling you that someday
they will be coming home.

Byron Beynon lives in Swansea, Wales. His work has appeared in several publications including Jellyfish Whispers, London Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Chicago Poetry Review and Poetry Wales.  A Pushcart Prize nominee.  His latest collection "The Echoing Coastline (Agenda Editions) has been submitted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.