Winter winds

AND over Sussex hills and DownsThe keen wild wind goes roving'Cross sheep shorn slopes and ancient earthThrough everything I'm loving

It howls and freezes man and beast

It brings the cold snow drifting

To ancient, lonely Beacons high

Where ghostly shapes are shifting

Before the early morning light,

Through the pre-dawn, silver-white

A gentle ghostly fluttering down

Brings purity to sinful ground

Still sunshine blossom of the gorse

Gleams lonely since the sun rides low

Yet twinkles through the frosty coat

A welcome beacon in the snow

But nothing lasts except to change

And as the winter ages

Spring returns to vale and cliff

To show the new old pages.

Tony Gardner

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