Small, polished shield-bearer
abacus of early days
and harbinger of life’s happiness
that the world offers
things scarlet and spotted
to alight, hasping and unhasping
unlikely wings,
that there can be three or thousands
but not a plague of ladybirds
no, a benediction of ladybirds
to enamel the weeds.
Small, polished shield-bearer
abacus of early days,
harbinger of life’s happiness.
From: Dunmore, Helen, The Malarkey, 2012, Bloodaxe Books: Northumberland, p. 35.
(https://books.google.com.au/books?id=0hB6tgAACAAJ)
Date: 2012
By: Helen Dunmore (1952-2017)