Poppy poem and photos: August 2008

Summer 2007 on the outskirts of Louth

Fields of Poppy Fire

Fields of Poppy Fire
Before the backdrop
Of Louth’s spire
Eyes are led
To fields of fire
To a carpet of red
From poppy crops bred

A flower-full bed
Of powerful
Passionate red
To capture your eyes
And turn your head

Sprawling like a
Red shawl worn, a gown
Or a cape across
The shoulders and nape
Over the landscape draped

Or a rash from a fever
That bleeds,
Scratched and torn
Broken up,
Only by patches
Of tumbling weeds
And snatches
Of yellow rapeseed

Or a red sea
Of rolling waves
Splashing the Wolds
In lashings of a colour
So brash, unbashful,
Brazen and bold

Or the sum
Of a billion rubies
That glitter and stun
In the brilliant, radiant
Gold-lit rays
That pierce down
From the sun’s full gaze

And as the curtains
Of night are drawn
They close
And bow their heads
In repose
Until nights dispose
And dawn and sunlight shows

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published by Anchor Books

Poppy poem and photos