February Shropshire Woods

Cherry

By Rhiannonw

Fri, 11 Feb 2022
  • 1252 reads
11 comments
 

 In the copse’s
sere tangled undergrowth, mulch
and crumbling ginger bracken
below bare brown branches
splashes of bright white snowdrops
–  burst
– Spring’s delicate, fragile, hardy first!
  

Certificate U
Poem
Countryside explorations
Nature

Comments

Submitted by marandina on

I was right there with you again. Spring has sprung. Beautiful! Paul :)

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you so much. And I'm glad you could enjoy the spectacle too! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Simply beautiful and said so much to me. I love the photos too.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you, Jenny. They are so beautirul and so unexpected in the surroundings. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Very lovely. :)

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you! We hadn't really seen wild snowdrops in profusion until we came to live in this borderland area. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you for the cherries. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

What a lot of snowdrops!!! 

Every year you write a beautiful snowdrop poem, and always say something fresh. In this one I notice particularly your contrast with decay (crumbling, tangled) emptiness (bare, sere) and then "splashes"and "burst" are moving, full of energy. Also I liked fragile and hardy together, and ending on "first" the huge significance of being found by hopeful searching this time of year

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you, Di. There were lots of patches like this in the wood! I'm glad you picked up the fragile and hardy together – they look so fragile, and yet must be hardy to cope with the temperatures they often meet and snow. Though there are other flowers around, they do seem the first to come in such abundance! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Wonderful, lovely poem Rhiannon! Not sure what " copse’s " are or "sere". For the most part a poem of amazing clarity. I remember I've asked you about snow? Are you in Wales? But obviously the poem is not of neccessarily actual snow. And is there a difference between "snowdrops" and "snowflakes", or just "snow"? Sweets or breakfast cerial sounds like.

We only get a bit of snow about once in 50 years.

All the best! Tom

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

We don't get a lot of snow here. It is borderland, near Wales. We can often see snow on the hills north of here and in Wales.

A 'copse' is a small wood. 'Sere' means dry, withered.

Snowdrops are the flowers shown in the photograph. They are one of the first spring flowers, and can be seen through traces of actual snow sometimes. So, although they look so delicate, they are really quite hardy.

These are links to two I wrote about them in previous years:

https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/snowdrop

https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/near-kilpeck-february

We don't talk of drops of real snow, just flakes. They float down, and each are different in crystalline structure apparently,. When a lot float down in a blizzard, it is very difficult to see your way and very easy to get lost, even near your home.