winter pasture,
clotted rain —
snow first-footing
the new year

*

bridled with ice
the beck is down:
it has been snowing
it will snow

*

threading moor
& skyline together,
a red threat of fox
flagging the field

stand silently & go

*

a world spins
wintering
under each
eye-lid

*

knuckled feet
gather in —
blade of the spine
an upturned boat

*

this is a man:
body of Christ
life in his teeth
snow in his mouth

stand silently & go

*

melt & make
no noise — this life,
this crucible
of accidents

*

is ice what happens
when water forgets
how to be anything
else?

*

snow-melt over-
fills the burn —
stots off stone,
tells it clean

stand silently & go

Copyright © Paul Batchelor, 2006.

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Paul Batchelor is currently undertaking AHRC-funded doctoral research at Newcastle University on the poetry of Barry MacSweeney. His poems have appeared in various magazines including Modern Poetry in Translation and Poetry Review. His pamphlet To Photograph a Snow Crystal was published in May 2006 by Smith Doorstop, and a first full-length collection is imminent from Bloodaxe Books.