Cherry Blossom

Our glorious Cumbrian heat-wave has now ended, but the sunshine and warmth of the past five days has given a real boost to spring. This ornamental cherry reminds me of a lovely poem about wild cherry, by A.E. Housman.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
 
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.