the sign says
follow the white-topped posts
so i don’t
i stride out through the forest
and onto the sand dunes
where a secluded copse
of some twenty pines
stands separate from the forest
and only their tops have foliage
all else is naked as they stand
like slender-stemmed mushrooms
exposed and alone
back in the forest
where the light breaks through
the inevitable
Rose Bay Willow herbs flower
and a tree has fallen
for no apparent reason
why this one?
and why now?
is it that it’s rotten at the core
or simply weak-rooted
or did it fall for a sucker punch
from the winds that roar in
even on summer nights
across the North Sea
and curlew haunted beach
at Ainsdale