After the lambs and lions have tussled
with winds in the mid March days
pairs of two-legged hares go courting
cheek to cheek, in bouts of clouting
brief and brown where the plough
rutted the clod and ships butt
bravely up the channel
now when silk coat cats lie tousled on the willows
comes April full of foolishness
a madcap trickster that blushes behind blossom
and flirts with the Cock O' the North
still wintering there
Notes:
1. Weather saying – “March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb”
2. Brown hares are known to box during the mating season
3. Reference to John Masefield’s ‘Cargoes’
4. Pussy willow – common name for the soft grey wintery buds of Salix
5. April begins with All Fools day
6. the Brambling is a finch that winters here whose epithet is ‘cock o’ the north’
Marian is inviting us to plant a poem in the Imaginary Garden for April come she will
PoetryPix 