‘If it had been told to me I should not have believed it. / The night had burnt itself out and the morning was a miniscule new flame / Over the sifting waters of the river. Where were the angels / Attending like apothecaries to St Erasmus? None of them came. / That place was beautiful till then....

March 29, 2010 / Every morning since the time changed / I have woken to the dawn chorus / And even before it sounded, I dreamed of it / Loud, unbelievably loud, shameless, raucous / / And once I rose and twitched the curtains apart / Expecting the birds to be pressing in fright / Against th...