He brings sticks, shells, an empty crisp packet -
I turn the soil to unveil sprouting seeds,
leatherjackets.    We are a symbiosis.
He brings a clattering of jackdaws
chack-chacking, feathers and a full heart,
ash trees studded black.
He brings dusk and darkness, an end to summer,
harvest. Each morning I pour water and
watch him bathe. He knows I saved him
from the raven, taught him to fly,
gave him life, now he flies to me
with gifts - nutshells, lambs’ tails,
twigs, watches me weave a nest of our love,
pretends he'll never leave