The Hillside Arboretum Poem by Robert Creffield

I love being with you now that we have time
Free from the distractions of work pandemonium
Time to stroll the wooded path in spring sunshine
Exuberant in the calming hillside arboretum.

I saw you standing taking the view of yonder dale
Small amongst the towering oak, beech, birch and yew
And everywhere nature's geometry perfect to scale
Encapsulated its beauty with the beauty of you.

It was in your birth month of April there you stood
When nature unfolds the fern and uncoils the leaf
And the spring sun without its tardy winter hood
Urged each bud to perform its annual unveiling feat.

The afternoon sun thin as cellophane did wane
Laying its shadow over bluebells, orchids and sorrel
Accompanied by the wood thrush and blackbird refrain
The magnolias and azaleas withdrew until the ‘morrow.

And when spring and summer and autumn disperse
Only weak shadows of those vibrant days linger just
I'll trace the memory whilst in winter gloom immersed
Of you in clear harmony with that wooded idyll so lush.

Nature opened her fan of petal, pistol and stamen gold
On that ancient calming hillside arboretum
The wonder of her ways too rare and mysterious to be told
And she and you perfect in beauty, the magnum mysterium.