1
Now that the grass grows lush
between fence boards and asphalt,
elm flowers tint their delicate divisions
and moss stalks tremble on old walls,
Scilla Verna - a deft blue glance
secludes and clarifies,
suffusing through twilight.
2
On Laundress Green, two lovers so young
impulsively embrace then shyly admire
the sunken river:* the jumble of stones
exposed, as at low tide on seashores,
the flowers of froth, drifting under young
willow leaves, clinging roots,
seeming suffused with tumescent urgency,
and little waves that bob the paired ducks
3
In a wry air
eddies on land and water:
willow-shiver-sway
yet just one grass-blade waves,
four duck-feathers
turn together in convoy;
and lovelier than elm leaves*
tumbling aisles of air
through shadowed passageways,
down fluted stairs,
sheets on the line in stately wind ballets
remind of graceful girls.
....................
*Using weirs and locks the Cam is periodically drained to be cleared or for college foundations to be inspected etc.
* It's called 'midsummer leaf drop' or can be 'inner leaf drop' when some trees shed some leaves in late spring and summer - due to various reasons.
YOU ARE READING
Tapestries
PoesíaPoems from 1978 onwards. These poems are in a different style from the later MajorSeventh, the earlier ones often with more of an Eastern-influenced cadence. Later, they vary a lot in form and style.
