Read Dances, Towers, Hills and Skies - Poems :: 6 - Green Cherry Blossom

I stand beyond the month of
late spring,

and cannot fail to note an unusual
thing:

For along with the Cyclamen, Muscari
and Daffodils,
The earth-attached clouds have returned to life.

True, a Cherry has been unfurling flowers

since November;
Yet did not waver whilst other monuments
swept forth:

The Hazel with primrose catkins whilst it was
still cold;

Followed by Swept-Railway Poplar with catkins
crimson gauze.

Two more members of Populus catkins bear;

But their catch lay in their foliage,
fresh like a new season;

One with foliage more reminiscent of an
Acer autumn;

The other with leaves of silver dusted with
crystal snow.

During this, the Cherries began their floral dance,
Rose Snow,
Luscious Pink and Dove White all processed;
Covering the ground below in a snow
that did not melt.

Flakes of petals rather than crystal,

That made me wish that they remained till
the Summer Month.

The Cherry Flowers continued in the upward blooms
of the Aesculus,

Its grand candle-spikes like steeples of blossom.

Contrasting with the falling bunches of Lady Acer’s
arrival,
Chartreuse clusters like the fruit of vines.

Pendulosity was also found in a member of the
Salix tribe,
A weeping fountain with waters of gold;

And in the blooms of the clean-limbed laburnum,

Sprays of lemon from branch to ground.

Yet even as the grey-barked member of House Olive
joined those of Fagus and Tilia in rising for May;

Another cherry still had its blossom whilst the rest had fallen;

Green as the month rather than fresh snow
or enticing sugar,

And one or two like they wanted to soar into
the clouds.

A cherry not-often-seen;

But still around if you know
where to look:

The children of Ulmus:

Wych,
Smooth-leaved and

Huntingdon;

Elms with seed pods like
Green Cherry Blossom.

. . .

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