Lintel
years twist
through its grain
an acorn ripened
radicle unfurled
sapwood dried
to heartwood
the beam dark
with soot
and softened
by rot
initials scored
in the timber
leaves spindled
to earth
EN + CR
1904
Sharon Phillips lives in Otley, West Yorkshire. Her poems have been published online and in print, most recently in the Places of Poetry anthology, Sarasvati and The Dawntreader.