---
title: "3.47p.m."
url: "https://ruthocallaghan.com/poems/3-47pm"
updated: 2026-10-12
description: "\"3.47p.m.\", a poem by Ruth O'Callaghan from A Lope of Time."
---

# 3.47p.m.

the garden a soup of light and shadow\
that disturbs blackbirds, robins

the berries already red and the seasons\
out of kilter.

We have grown old here, watching\
swallows migrate,

a hidden history in each certain swoop,\
waiting

for the droop of bluebells to smother groundswell\
under trees.

In unvisited woods the cuckoo reports that spring\
has arrived

but there’s little hope of frog spawn with the pond dry\
summers

when soft rain refused to fall. How can we even speak\
of leaving

with the last of this year’s leaves yet to burn?

_From A Lope of Time (Shoestring Press, 2009)_