Hail, bright crescent, adding heat to sweet nights,
foretelling Sirius and Orion’s rise.
While you grow full, clover wilts and grass dries;
lily and yarrow conduct mourning rites,
and lightning trembles alders on the heights.
Egrets seek high ground to meet like the wise,
though fox becomes careless and swiftly dies,
and silver birch endures her fungal blights.
Gulls call to each other on the river,
wheeling around, glaring with evil eye.
Rose hips in sea-grass, tomatoes on vine…
Nature appears a bountiful giver,
and bestows rich gifts when her children die:
new wheat for fresh bread and grapes for new wine.
