Grotesquely gnarled and warped
Two mulberries lean creaky towards each other
Like ancient lovers
Their bark is warty and bulbous as a toper’s nose
They are Elephant man in the final stage of living
A ghastly gash in the side of the taller tree
Is filled with plaster, like a surgical cast
Clapped on by a clumsy medic, ‘do not resuscitate’
Their hideous carbuncles are whiskery with twigs
You half expect them to cackle
The elder of the pair is leaning its weight
Onto a sturdy prop, like a Chelsea Pensioner’s stick
No birds alight on their branches
Which writhe like Medusa’s hair
A berry-eyed buck rabbit crops the grass
Its small teeth snish and snash
In the pulsing fur of its jowls
Its ears, two wings of skin
Are almost translucent
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem