I never asked you
to cut back
the overgrown Scots pine
now framed against
a clear blue sky.
Overnight severe frost
paralysed the garden
snowdrops are upright
determined to survive
one bird, a crow,
tries to scrape
its hungry beak
through to hidden grass
I will carry
these images
into another day
yet keep ravages
of grief from you

my gift when
I have nothing
else to offer.

Joan McBreen has published five collections of poetry with Salmon Poetry and is working on a sixth