For My Mum

She is nearest
When I'm
Out in the wilds
Nose running
Frosty streams
In the freezing wind
The lost sun bringing
A fur of ice
And shiver
Scattering sheep
Half feral
To seam these hills
Stitching the summit
In dark winter wool
She and me
Ascending
Both here and there
West heading east
Hugging the trig
A bone-cold ghost
Set in solitude
Yet a beacon
For her to find me
And follow
The well-worn boots
Of an orphaned daughter
Blessing the crown of
Mole hills
With patterned tread
And
Nudging the debris
Of
Tiny hollowed
Skulls
And rabbit’s feet
Run out of life
But all once lived
Without a single stain of regret
A sinking smile
Curls with the contours
Of sharp descent
Tracking an edge
That holds
A sense of
Her
A scent
Undefined
Wisps in the willows
The shush of the fern
Ears full of seashells
Her voice a songline
Intrinsic
Like the pattern of lichen
On a tree
Graffiti illuminating
Its history
Shy feline shadow
My blood
My mother
Mercurial
Death
Life
Somewhere in between
A hare's breath
A robin's whisper
A feather fall
Descending
Amid hawthorn
And holly.