The sound of spring
Mar 23, 2022
3 minutes
John Lewis-Stempel
Illustration by Michael Frith
John Lewis-Stempel, but the toads and the rooks are busy making breeding plans
Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed, The speculating rooks at their nests cawed And saw frozen elm-tops, delicate as flower of grass, What we below could not see, Winter pass ‘Thaw’ by Edward Thomas
CURIOUS the things we remember unbidden. But, suddenly, a memory of when I was young, scurrying behind my grandfather as he marched off to the hopyard. Distinct in the recall are his black Wellingtons, the tops rolled down to reveal the geometric white netting liner.
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