Common Grounds
by Katherine Gallagher •
They change colour
before your eyes,
shake complacency –
steppe, pampa, savanna –
the ramblers’ short cut
with meadowsweet,
ox-eye daisies, foxgloves
moor, heath, sward.
Paddock, pasture, lea
shelve the harvest,
court their own silence
tether the seasons,
take the elements on trust,
hold the story of bird and tree.