Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Leave-taking


I read somewhere 
That ashes are the last 

Trees to welcome leaves, 
The first to let them go— 

In the meantime so brief, 
So breathtaking an interlude 

It bears repeating: The last 
To welcome them, the first 

To let them go.



 

4 comments:

  1. The repetition is magical. This is a wonderful poem.

    We've lost a lot of ashes due to ash dieback here, a terrible disease. I don't know if it's made its way into southern Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Duncan for the warm response; as for ash dieback, we've been having a similar problem over the past 5-7 years not with ashes but with our beautiful plane trees. The only remedy to prevent
    this disease is to cut down the entire tree once it has been infected. Needless to say, these wonderful trees usually adorn our streams and rivers and the resulting picture is not a happy one. It seems this particular disease was imported into our area after WWII by infected wooden crates but it has just now started to get vicious. Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beauty, this one.

    Vassilis, it appears the ash trees are still holding their own in the North, at least.

    This dispatch represents the News from Norway, as of last week:

    "Ash trees are the last to get leaves and the first to lose them, growing like mad in the meantime."

    A Bad Guide: The Weather (15 May 2013)

    Lawrence took the ash as a talisman.

    Those still standing must perhaps now stand alone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom,

    Of course this poem wouldn't have grown "like mad in the meantime" if it hadn't been for your post on Lawrence and the link from Norway. I thank you for that and for your comment here.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...