Nymph Acantha Poem by Mark. A Heathcote

Thorny leaves that represent pain,
Sin and punishment, and enduring life
These are what's left after scratching Apollo's face
Rebuff his continued advances
And you, too, could be transformed-
Into Acanthus, the Bear's Britches.

Acantha means thorn, a name-
Associated with beauty and tenacity,
She was a nymph well-loved.
By the god Apollo, but he turned her
Into a plant with spiny leaves
Lest her femininity, the female soft linen
More like a flowering wand with a thorny crown.

So, don't snub Apollo to his face.
Or you, too, might grace Lime Avenue.
At Brompton Cemetery, London,
In the finest gardens of eternal rest.
There might your possessions be lying in a basket,
And acanthus plants the Bear's Britches.
Growing around your closed tomb.