Poem

Latitude 57.78, The Changing Scene

Setting out from a bank that I know “Where the Wild Flowers Grow”
By the roundabout at Tesco’s,
There's cranesbill, chamomile, ragwort and hawkweed.
“Glory, Glory, Halleluja!”

At noon in June on the road to Holt
To east and to west, to right and to left
Southerly sun casts crossover shadows.

"Bushes and Briars" and brambles and all,
"Singing, Singing Buttercups and Daisies",
Dandelion clocks and clover.

Beautiful lupins with tapering blooms,
Stiff red hot pokers stuck out on the verge,
Cow parsley, yarrow, campion and mallow.
(Later it’s hogweed, hedges and bracken).

White frothy saucers of elder and may.
Fan vaulted aisles of maple and oak,
Shadowy tunnels as dark as dusk.

Petals of dog-rose all papery pink,
Rice paper petals of eglantine white,
Petals of poppies all scarlet and floppy.

Backdrop of pine, to magnificent globes
Of rosy rhododendron lining the road
(And more hedges and hogweed,
Nettles and bracken).

On the road to Holt at a quarter to one
Evening primrose out in the sun
And oxeyed “Dayseyes” –
Journey is done.

PS
Alas,
They’ve tidied up the bank that I knew where the wild flowers grew
By the roundabout at Tesco’s.
There’s no cranesbill, chamomile, ragwort or hawksweed.
“Miserere Mei, Miserere Mei!

Pat Hanchet
Norwich, UK

I am a retired school music teacher, who now composes and teaches music privately at home as well as playing mainly violin or viola in various ensembles.
Occasionally I compose poetry.

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