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We saw this hedgerow on an evening run when we were in Scotland for a few days.  It was so beautiful, it made me want to do a Sound of Music and run through it barefoot!
Such hedgerows were common when I was young and we would gather a couple of cornflowers and penny moons but leave the ragwort alone for it has a harsh scent to it.
They don’t last long but a tiny bunch of these flowers in one of the old glass milk bottles looked lovely.

    DUSK IN LATE SPRING 

That evening, the country road
Was a deep soft grey
Where nothing could be properly seen,
Only the lovely shadows of bush and tree
And the soft blue haze of cornflowers
Studding the hedgerow. 

Then the intermittent dull gold
Of the ragwort,
Lifting sudden head and shoulders
Over the pale penny moons.
The whole so beautiful,
That little country road
Will live with me for ever. 

                            ©2020 Gwen Grant

   THE FALL OF ICARUS

Icarus must have fallen into our garden last night.
He must have landed with a thump,
Knocking all the feathers off his wings
Because the grass shone
With soft cream clover,
The startling embroidered white of daisies
And in the small brown pots
That were empty at dusk,
Grew tiny iceberg roses.
Pale and pretty as moonshine.

                               © 2020 Gwen Grant

FIERCE WIND AND STORM

Fog on the fields this morning,
So dense, I could only see
Shapes and shadows
Heading towards me.
Only hear the lovely papery rattle
Of dry leaves
Hanging on a bit longer,
Before the wind
Blows them and the fog
Into oblivion.

Standing at the fence, listening
To the cat’s tiny lappings
Of icy rainwater,
I feel the wind’s new strength,
Triumphant after its cleansing
Of field and hedgerow,
Pulling me and pushing,
Pushing me and shoving,
Until it almost bowls me over.

But I hold on,
With fingers strong and fierce
As wood, new leaf and berry.
For I have a lot to do
Before I allow any storm to blow me
Into oblivion.

©2022 Gwen Grant