Wednesday, July 29, 2020

A Poor Man Offers Unlimited Treasure




It’s a paltry thing that sparkler on your finger,
when, on a sunny morning, I will present you
with ten miles of dazzling lake almost to the door.

Or an emerald, when my house is sitting at the bottom
of blazing green fields, and the same all the way to the sea,
two counties to the west, three to the east.

Or amethyst, when the boreen is crowded with foxgloves
ringing their bells for the attention of bumble bees who’ll be losing
their heads in nectar from May to September.

Or rubies, when the hedges are brimming with myriad constellations
of fuchsia; even the ash, high on the hill, outshines them with its harvest
of late evening sun gathered in sprays of blood-bright berries.

And that gold bangle on your wrist, how dull it will look beside the daffodils
under the beech trees not a hundred yards from my house, or June’s irises
with blooms like laughter among the flaggers opposite Scanlon’s old shed.

Over by the privet hedge, you’ll have all the pearls you could wish for
come the end of January; snowdrops, promising the year’s beauty,
will be yours every January, if only you’d come live in my cottage.

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