No respite for the trees:
like soldiers they stand, attending
to every kind of weather
It rushes roughly against their innocent bark
or touches their limbs seductively
in the deceptive dark
No hiding under tiles or blankets:
arms out, they are open to everything, even
the surprising blackness of the stars
and the winters of discontent
Down by the graveyard
the sky-cold water murmurs
against such injustice
but the sentry trees have no complaint:
they do not retreat
from the slashing heat of sudden summer
or the introspective moon
They do not jump for joy
or scream with pain, or
faint at the anger of lightning
Faithful in love, they continue to stand
hand in hand,
naked before the beggar, the killer and
Christ the King
This poem was written after observing the trees on Thetford Heath and a canal at Warwick.