Blackthorn Winter, by Jill Bush

I knew the blackthorn winter

By the sleeping sweet pea trays

Tulips surging bent due West

All their carmine tongues ablaze

I heard the blackthorn winter

By the sagging coat peg’s snap

Single-layered Sundays

Before Monday’s scarf and cap

I watched the blackthorn winter

Lift the branches one by one

And put them down again

Where they had been lying all along

I saw the blackthorn winter

In the hedgerow’s satin shawl

The cat in silent vigil

For the fledglings on the wall