Hideaway (Poetry)

I have this cottage that
is mind-expanding ...
it has as many rooms
as I can draw
and I fill it full
of old photographs
every face I have
a deep affection for

There’s a filing system
of old lovers
my alphabet’s
a jumbled mess
thrown out of order
when they’re caught peeping
each time I slip out
of my wedding dress

The garden grows
amazing flowers
Hare Krishna
blooms the singing hedge
white doves nest
high in an oak tree
moss has claimed
my window ledge

There’s an angel lurking
in the greenhouse
sowing hope
among the plants
his holy fingers
coax the sunlight
send happy seedlings
into a trance

And there’s tame foxes
in the orchard
and feral goats
to crop the grass
a very lush
and hippy Eden
with a moon river
running past

It is fantastical
the heart’s location
down summer pathways
dew-damped fresh as youth
and longing weaves
tenacious ropes of ivy
that scale the walls
to touch the roof

This hideaway
from grisly winter’s aging
a blissful spot
free from stress and harm
my new address
built with bricks of comfort
memory the mortar
dreaming old-world charm