With beak and claw and ragged wing,
they own the Yorkshire air, riding
its currents, shrugging off cold winds that bring
leaves rattling and children pedalling
on Boxing Day bikes, and couples hiking
hand in gloved hand, not looking
up at where they tremble on taut string,

then stoop to snatch at carrion
or worms or sometimes a vole skittering
or a hedge sparrow foraging.
And now the low sun is dipping
behind the hill, trees are shivering,
oak, birch and beech, Storm Conor’s coming
and in their tops Red Kites are roosting.

Carole Bromley lives in York where she is the Stanza rep and runs poetry surgeries for The Poetry Society. Two collections with Smith/Doorstop, the most recent being The Stonegate Devil which won the 2016 York Culture Award. A collection for children will be published in June 2017  www.carolebromleypoetry.co.uk