Angela Ward is co-owner of Butterfly Cottage Garden Plants. Previously she worked for the NHS. She is a qualified Psychodynamic Counsellor. Angela has been writing poetry for thirty years. Until recently, her poems languished in a cardboard box in her spare room!
Two Metres Away
The dawn chorus was loud and beautiful
‘though nesting time was almost finished.
And later…
Four newly emerged Small Tortoiseshells settled
on stony ground, to dry their pristine wings,
while Skippers jostled a fat Bumble Bee
to sip sweet nectar from Centranthus ruber.
And self-seeded garden escapes mingled
with wildflowers in sun-cracked crevices:
Verbascums, daisies, corn cockles and poppies,
in colour wheels to steal a breath away.
Beside the compost bin, bedecked with twining
open cups of pure white convolvulus,
a multitude of stinging nettles writhed
with yellow and black striped caterpillars.
And twenty tiny, bright green grasshoppers
leapfrogged one another in a small patch,
accompanied by a chorus of crickets
able to compete with Greek cicadas
Nestled beneath terracotta pots, frogs
startled croak, grumpy at being disturbed
by one Humming-Bird-Hawk moth, proboscis
deep within magenta Erodiums.
And Bronze Fennel, copper colours ablaze,
promised umbels of Aniseed to store
along with scented herbs spread out to dry:
lavender, rosemary, lemon balm and sage.
Then cumulus clouds bubbled up and Red Kites
began a circling descent, their high-pitched cries
replaced by dualling thrushes singing
out sunset songs as the church clock chimed ten.
And in the darkness, refreshing rain fell on
parched soil and scorched leaves, lifting the bowed heads
of stargazers – lost in thoughts of night sky
myths and legends- who began to wonder whether
the dawn chorus had been loud and beautiful
and might the world wake up and listen?
Angela Ward
‘Two Metres Away’ was written while Angela walked around her gorgeous nursery early one morning at Butterfly Cottage Garden Plants. It’s a walk that you can share by watching the slide show below whilst listening to the dawn chorus.
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