2 Trees

Watered by the frenzied rain,

Sculptured by the distant sun,

From common soil, their growth was made:

Yew and holly rise to meet,

Crimson fruits and evergreen.

(Taxus baccata in staccato:

Ageless rise to agelessness,

Deadly in its deadened blades,

Glory in the solitary,

Hewn into spear heads,

Churchyards claim its cheerless charm.

Ilex aquifolium unfolded:

Never meant to reach its age.

In frost the birds they perch to feed,

When nowhere else their food is found,

And manna do the branches give,

While roots enrich the shuddered earth.)

Yew and holly rise to meet,

Crimson fruits and evergreen,

Ferried by the hapless womb,

Baptised by the phoenix plume;

Yew will thirst for graves to fill

As holly shields its love from chill,

And when this love it burns again,

Their final battle comes to end.