Ric Cheyney is a pre-modernist agrarian misanthrope and woodland gardener in north west Wales, UK. His book of selected writings, ‘In Praise Of Nahum Tate’, illustrated by Julie Foley, is published by Matador. See his website woodminster.net for more info.
Rehab
‘Doubtful it stood….’
– Macbeth
The twisted baby cherry
rescued from wreckage of a storm-toppled giant
has spent all winter
straightening herself out.
The detox looked unlikely
when I scumbled over her torn roots
in a shallow scooped hollow,
rushed with a dozen
more urgent things to do
but I sectioned her
off from the sheep
and kept a sly watch on her standing
whenever work took me over
to her bed.
She hovered in the doorway
and her buds were all I saw.
Many were dried dead wood
but some soft with gloss
and thus besotted I noticed not
her new gradual and secret
not quite perpendicular alignment
until now.
Her tiny twists of green
are pursed up still today.
But I know that one mild morning coming
they will emerge
and this first crisis will be over.