Evensong

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Even on a cold, dull day slid duskwards,
as winter'd turned over in restless sleep
flopped arm over April (shivers awake),

blackbirds on vantages sing the fullness,
changes of phrases silence punctuates,
while children squabble and hop sidewalks
dogs grouse, bikes blatter, sirens loom and fade,

they keep their time through all syncopation.
Though cheeky sparrow tweets from his cheep seat
though clumsy comic pigeon perches near
wobbling a twig like a panto josser*,

they finish when they mean to, having sung
the long stanzas through at least thrice over.

The after-silence sighs, stretches and yawns;
dandelions hunch into sepal hoods.

Encore! I say. Oh, keep the night at bay;
beguile the onset of the shadow hour
that ghosts white blossom of the reaching pear.

..................

'Josser' is UK pejorative slang for an old man.
This is written with ten syllables a line - decasyllabic  verse.

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