This is a poem I have written for anyone who feels that urge at this time of year to be getting out and about in the garden and start to clear things away after winter and get ready for the coming year. It is for the hard battles ahead; the fight against weeds and the ever increasing number of jobs to be done. But it is just as much for the exciting times when new life begins to rise up.
Defending the borders – Jenny May
In the cool air of early morning
I stand.
Stretch my eyes towards the horizon
And I survey the land.
The battleground lies bathed in approaching sun
I shield my eyes to what’s begun
The drone and hum
Summer comes
The ritual continues as it has always done.
Just as we slow and sleep through winter months that make us lazy and hide inside,
So too does life beyond our walls, wait and bide its time.
Then spring arrives
And we come alive
And raise up our battle cries.
Over are the wary glances
Eyeing up who will take their chances
Who will be the first to show their hand?
Will I crack or will the land?
I have scoured the earth over past spring days
To see green darts of life give way
They crumble soil aside as they rise
They breathe new life and stretch to the skies
But these are not the enemy
Nor the bursting buds upon the trees
It is those that lurk below
And veil their moves by starting slow.
They creep, they crawl, they spread fingers wide.
They linger and loiter and know to hide
To wait until I turn my back
Then they shoot forth with their attack.
I gather my weapons to me:
My spade, my fork; my armoury.
I have dressed in muddied clothes of battles past.
My boots are strong to protect and last.
I step out and my patrol has begun
And so it starts under strengthening sun.
Summer comes.
The ritual continues as it has always done.
Nature conflicts with men.
These are my borders
And I will protect them.
