Of old: Strolls through Impressionist galleries

The snap of a wooden axle

rebukes the trench

that took advantage of a Spring rain to widen

Shadows go on their morning retreat into hedges

A courtyard gate creaks

waving on the washerwoman with her sack of aprons

Stone gazes at stone

A brown terrier sniffs its way along the gutter

The sparrows are hastening to the shoppers who will taunt them with crumbs

Only one passerby uncaps a pocket watch—

the stationmaster

who must reach the platform to greet the locomotive

Andy Oram
November 7, 2025