Once Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Once I was sun-bitten legs,
Helping to load the peats on my uncle’s cart

Once I read Jane Eyre in a locked-down ward
Where demons danced between the changeful bedknobs

Once I waded a burn, my ankles shackled in ice
The snow-wreaths borne on the waves like Jesus thorns

Once a falling leaf skimmed past my ear
A cobweb in a ghostly funfair tunnel,
A frisson of fright

Once I saw a pool of starlings fly
Spilling and pouring together again, like quicksilver

Once, I tasted honey from the hive
I knew that bees were really fallen angels,
Sweetening our days with buzzings and delight