Questions of a Waxing Moon

News comes of Ukraine’s forces 

boldly attacking across frozen ground

by the light of a new moon

when the moon is full 

how far will they have gone?

will they have overthrown armies

taken supply routes

jeopardized Putin’s power?

will they have moved east 

then turned south

to strike at the rear of their besiegers?

when the moon is full

may good news come 

when the moon is full

how far will they have gone?

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                        2025

Standing Stones

Why do giant standing stones draw us nearer them?

once we have noticed them standing between two worlds

a lintel above them they baulk our progress

won’t let us see what they guard

not a landscape but some secret long forgotten  

how important a secret we do not know

wind & water hone the stone

acid rain

dew bathing old wounds 

where sandstone was cut from the north facing crags

beyond Hadrian’s Wall in the borderlands

drystone walls dividing small fields

a spring on the hillside

metallic tasting water

keeping grass lush 

with its steady flow 

silence

then a curlew’s cry

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                     2025