Ivy trails alongside brickwork from
the time of Victoria 1st, squeezing
root into cracks,
bursting outwards and lodging
in that rock haven, knowing
that removal is mutually assured.

Upon the patio steps lie joinery
and tools,
sheets of glass and fibre,
corrugated, pristine,
gun metal grey aligned
on waves of sheen, sun glints
on panel and forehead alike,
sweat beads arrange into lines,
an abacus of moisture.