OF THE JUNIPER TREE THIS BE THE TALE Poem by Geert van Istendael

Oracle shrub
of drift sand sentinel
of frost and blizzard
etnagh

Twig smoke
in hog foot
and dark ham and sausages
dammer wood

Twig good for smudge
to chastise pestilence
drive serpents from their nest
feldefare berie

Berry blue with cold
applied to hare and kale
berry black comrade
of distillate

In haze over turf sods needles etch
a kobold from the north
dwarf from a petrified age

Growth is centuries
centuries of
hard labour.