Noble chafers and elderberries
in celebration
of orchards and Apple Days
I have been to various orchard events over the last few
weeks and out of them the following has grown
More structured blogs will follow over the next few days but
for me the following held a lot of the excitement and enchantment of an orchard…
Orchard Summoning
Bring me a beetle,
A chafer, rose or
noble,
A dark shimmer of green
A maybug blunder in a
spring twilight.
Bring me a yaffle,
Ant bathing and
talkative,
The warm apricot blush
of bullfinches,
Feasting on the buds of
April.
Bring me the roe, the
chestnut ghosts
Slipping without sound,
shadows within shadow.
Bring me the bats of
the deep night,
A flicker of moth and
hunger.
Bring me the children
who steal
The windfalls from the
wasps,
Bring me the laughter
under the leaves,
Picnics sprawling
between sun and shelter,
Bring me the tales
knotted into the roots,
Of the oldest trees,
As Apple Tree Man
whispers through the branches.
Bring me sharp apple
juice and sweet
The delicate scent of
quince,
Bring me bitter rowan
and dripping elderberry,
Well jellied for a
winter feasting.
Bring me those
branches,
Twisted by centuries of
skill.
Bring me an orchard to
feed
Body and soul and
story.
Bring me it all.
Victorian black and
conference
Grenadier and quince
Damson, bullace and
sloe
Mabbott’s Pearmain,
Gascoyne’s Scarlet
Tydeman’s Early,
Rossie Pippin
Fillbasket and
Qarrenden
Bring me nothing,
But let me share
A joy, a hope, a
bounty.
Bring me nothing,
But let me offer
Strong arms and a
willing heart
Bring me nothing
But let me offer my
love.
Victorian black and
conference
Grenadier and quince
Damson, bullace and
sloe
Part of the BM125 project for Buxton Museum and Art Gallery
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