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The Elder Twenty years now since under this elder We first embraced. Do you remember Her bright arms flying, the fleeting, flashing Light, and the clouds scudding? How wild And uproariousness was our happiness! Twenty years now since under this lintel We passed, and the house stood around us. Do you remember the child in the elder And her golden hair? The doves In the leaves and the berries’ blood? How we raised the tent of our love under the eaves! Twenty years and each night, my companion, You watch the moon move through the branches. It silvers your hair. O my heart’s beam and protector, Beneath the elder vaulting our heaven: May she hold us forever far from the stars’ cold lattices. © Hilary Davies, Exile and the Kingdom, Enitharmon Press, 2016 |
Under the Elderberry Tree
1 The Songbird I cannot imagine Life without poetry Making a birdsong. The songbird Disturbs everything. Better to be dead Than alive among cherry blossom That does not move us. I am not with you long. Enjoy me As I turn into cherry blossom. * Before I go I want to say Why I loved life. It was because Without a doubt It was possible to love. Gone from the world, I go A cipher, a sign Of happiness. © Sebastian Barker, The Land of Gold, Enitharmon Press, 2014 |
