Afresh

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread, 
Their greenness is a kind of grief. 

Is it that they are born again 
And we grow old? No, they die too, 
Their yearly trick of looking new 
Is written down in rings of grain. 

Yet still the unresting castles thresh 
In fullgrown thickness every May. 
Last year is dead, they seem to say, 
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.


Philip Larkin


This is one of the oak trees I grew from an acorn. 
For anyone (like me!) interested in the botanical as well as the literary aspect of plants and trees the extra shows the leaf  of a nearby alder tree affected by the gall mite  Eriophyes laevis.  The galls look disturbingly like chicken or even small pox pustules but, though individual leaves may be compromised, the galls don't seems to do any overall harm to the trees. Just as well, since trees are not fortunate enough to get routine vaccinations. Get your jabs folks, don't  be influenced by the  crazy anti-vaxxers. This is something I feel very strongly about.