Poetry

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Fire on the barrow

 Do you remember when the fire came ?

The burning bushes, grass tufts in flame

And so long sang the thrushes, the dew berry the same

I remember said the rabbit of the barrow

The fire lighter's shame


We ran scrambled, all the animals

The little snails in their houses succumbed 

Somehow said the sparrow, things now

Seem so different, just a passing dream of tragedy

Commented the hedgehog of the hedgerow


Simple like a melody, but a chorus of fiery tongues

Licking and singeing the branches of the oak

The elders and the brambles soon went up in smoke

The fell was swept, the dale dealt a terrible blow

Dancing in the twigs and lifting peat sods

Where we trod with hopping tip toe


The hawks circle above, no meal of mouse or shrew

They were but cremated martyrs on the altar of an autumn dew

Only a little farther the survivors had to trudge into adjacent treelines

Foliage to shelter in and watch the holocaust of barrow down


No comments:

Post a Comment