Poem of the month: Auspices by Rachael Boast

It’s better not to move
in the long heat and languid evenings,
or maybe just this arm, looking
for a way of overcoming –

it will do its work. You bring
the silver breeze with you
up from the forest path, a delicate mercy
cool around my ankle like a bracelet.

Still I’m adorned with the fire
of the day. Don’t fan the flames,
don’t call the song thrush over
to beat her wings.

• From Hotel Raphael by Rachael Boast (Picador, £10.99).