Mid-March Chepstow

Mid-March, Chepstow

The ivy and the holly

That stood on guard through the long winter

And held out in the hard times

Are now pushed aside by the brash young green

Of hazel and of ash,

Eager to show off their young beauty

And careless of all duty done

Through the long cold winter nights.

The beech keeps all her children round her still.

She did not let them fly off with the oak leaves

In the windy autumn,

But now waits for the new brood to hatch and grow,

Soon to take their elder brothers’ places
On the thin twigs and branches.

And so new faces take the stage
For the short summer season,
Till autumn drops the curtain once again
And all the leaves are blown away.