"rosehips" poems
As the warm days of summer give way to chill, and shadows grow longer as days shed their hours.
High winds and rain storms scrub the tired landscape down.
Colours are changing from rich green to gold, from yellow to red and orange to brown.
The grain has been gathered, wheat, barley and oats, cut and collected, sifted and sorted and put into store.
Grown by God, and by man with machine and by effort of hand.
Poppies and stalks now mark the spot, of the return for their labour. The wealth of the land.
Birds follow the tractor, rising and falling, swirling and soaring they move like a cloud.
The farmer is out and turning the stubble into the ground.
Rooks and crows, gulls and wood pigeons, starlings and magpies follow him round.
Hay long since mown is now bailed and in barns, or rolled up and bagged, ferments now in high silage towers.
The countryside has yielded reward for all Adam’s toil.
Work done in rhythm with the seasons, sowing, growing, reaping, ploughing and tilling the soil.
Gathering goodness, from garden, and greenhouse, carrots and courgettes, tomatoes in bunches.
Fresher than any you can get in the shops.
Picking the bounty gleaned from the hedgerow. Rosehips and cobnuts, damsons and hops.
Elder and sorrel, mushrooms and puffballs, sour green crab apples, and brambles in tangles.
Sloes that were missed by the late winter frost.
Not all are pleasant and some really can hurt you, pick only those that you know and trust.
Take full advantage of God’s generosity, share it with gladness, with thanks, there is plenty for all.
Sticky syrups and cider, wines, cordial and beer.
Pies, puddings, sorbets and ice creams, jam, jelly, and chutney and enough pickles to last into next year.
As the warm days of summer give way to chill, and shadows grow longer as days shed their hours.
High winds and rain storms scrub the tired landscape down.
Colours are changing from rich green to gold, from yellow to red and orange to brown.
Oct 23, 2011
Oct 23, 2011 at 3:16 PM UTC
with water color ink
made permanent with a pin
an emerald garden grew
from the surface of her skin
the sight was divine
the branches aligned
& through the cracks
poured sunlight in.
the honeysuckles oozed
the hollyhocks seeped
as chartreuse hummingbirds
dank nectar through their beaks.
by her favorite birthmark
hanging from a tree
was a silver web of silk
gossamer and dazzling.
with each image set,
pressed onto her skin
her flesh turned bright red
like the rosehips near her ribs.
Feb 14, 2017
Feb 14, 2017 at 9:34 PM UTC
your skin is pale silk, my white hart, my Sol heart,
your blood as it thrums is red Eucharist wine,
your hair all the sun's godly glory and gold:
so Gloriana, lonely amora, who'd not call you the one and the only?
you speak of the sweet whispers that the waves could-- could!-- bring,
you, all fragrant with frankincense and rosehips and thyme,
you, avournine, flow to and away with the moon's ebb and sway,
and who'd not shiver and tremble before you, loreley!
you claim castle and crown with your easy warm grace,
you claim thrones of ice then complain of the cold,
and to touch your lips to petals is to touch her face:
but Titania, appassionata nostra,
caprice and impermanence, grace and countenance,
our lady of the lake!
Nov 26, 2012
Nov 26, 2012 at 4:46 PM UTC
Cotton fields in our mouths
Quenched with a kiss
Rain soaked ground
Or is it the bed
Flower petals opening up
Relishing in the dew
Or was it your stamen
Revitalizing in the rose
Apples in your hands
Unable to bite through
But yielding to your grasp
Hungry we were
A meal set before us
Dates, apples, steak, rosehips
Adam's Ale our drink
Pulled apart and snapped back
Ivy entwined together
Our bodies and souls sated for now
Apr 16, 2016
Apr 16, 2016 at 3:03 PM UTC
I exist between here and the deep blue sea;
here, and the olive tree;
between water and mango.
I sign letters in another's name
to profess my love to you;
like lilac in wind and rain
I endure.
Like rosehips in a summer breeze
swaying in their gentle dance -
bending to the higher force
in devoted trance.
And my love is wild and wicked
as a thicket of thorned roses;
my heart, that hungry, livid thing
twists itself in painful poses
at the mere sight of your face.
What is a soul when split in two,
if not a home to return to?
What is your gentle, tender touch
if not the ultimate reward,
a dream come true, an ache for more -
the yearning for "la petite mort".
I want to touch you like the ocean
crashing against a rocky shore.
I want to taste you like Eve
taking the first bite of sweetness.
I want to see you, hear you sing,
watch you throw yourself into the fire
of the night, the heat surrounding
your naked body, and mine.
I want to hold your legs apart
and flick my tongue against ripe fruit,
a peach-furry, strange delight,
red and eager, biting back,
licking scratching opening, not
in defense, but pleasure.
I exist between here and the deep blue sea;
between here, and the olive tree;
between thigh and hip.
I sign letters in another's name
to profess my love to you;
like a hummingbird at sunrise
I want to drink the morning dew.
Jul 3, 2020
Jul 3, 2020 at 8:08 PM UTC
Move over incompetence-
That’s my seat.
We’ll have tea. The herbal variety.
And talk about my listless absence
over rosehips and peppermint.
It has been a long road trip
on awkward interstates,
since I have eaten poetry.
It tastes tangy on my tongue-
tahini and tap water,
like salad dressing gone south.
I went south, since last we spoke.
I cry still for the colors,
the blues and greens that burned my eyes
and transfigured my palette.
The mountains spoke foreign languages
but blessed me with new ears to hear,
but I did not record their tales.
I sit now trying to catch a shimmer of their dialect
but I am full of empty English.
I repent now,
of my caustic neglect,
to the nymphs of creative order—
and humbly bow myself to the sword of
articulated
chaos.
Feb 21, 2014
Feb 21, 2014 at 3:34 AM UTC
In warmth autumn drifts
Rosehips blaze the path with red
Midst sweet sparrow's song
Sep 10, 2025
Sep 10, 2025 at 5:54 AM UTC
The last rose petals fall to the ground
leaving the rosehips bare
as autumn’s chill again comes around
to strip blooms that had been fair.
The rosehips have hairs all wiry and grey
that also break off, one by one.
Her color is gone, she fades away
until this rose lady’s season is done.
Her petals arrayed on frosty soil
decay gently in the cold rain
while in her hips, seeds are born
to bring forth new roses again.
Nov 10, 2024
Nov 10, 2024 at 1:57 PM UTC
What grows in the hedgerows?
Elderflowers and nuts
Mushrooms and wild garlic
Raspberries and blackberrie
Rosehips and nettles
Among many other edible things
That we can pick and gather
Freely since time immemorial
Thank you Planet Earth
Aug 28, 2016
Aug 28, 2016 at 3:20 PM UTC
all wide open big Spring mouth
the slather of your creeping
is clear its
full and
teeth are
white slick sharp
tumbling with
the smell of
sunscreen
(a dribble of
rosehips
sweetly
)
the clamor of a boygirl
too early
in the sun
eyes aching
rubbing them from crisp
sleep into ragged waking
THE!SEA
and miles of it a car
warm too
much a stirring of dust(laughing next to me about suddenly how one time she broke a boy's heart
Apr 2, 2013
Apr 2, 2013 at 1:42 PM UTC
I take Rowan to pick blackberries.
I knew where they’d be
Up through the allotments beyond the windmill,
brambles hanging heavy in the sunshine
We each carry
what we could find in the kitchen:
me a jug, he a plastic box. He clutches
it to his chest with both hands,
stepping carefully over cracks in the pavement.
Here then,
The clutches of fruit perch
like children sitting on a gate.
Rosehips and sloes peep yet
through the leaves, biding their time.
I say,
look at the colours.
Green then red and then
finally
shiny, glowing,
deepest purple.
And oh how the fattest fall just so
into your hand,
as if they have been waiting
Soft bubbles bursting with juice
Our fingers and chins
turn pink
I give him the biggest and sweetest.
I like the **** ones, sharp as a high summer sky.
The evening sun sends our shadows on and on
As I stop to watch him he grows,
transforming
right in front of me, long fingers and a wide wide grin, daisy faced, I must tilt
My head to meet his eye.
Now his hands find
the furthest blackberries
just
beyond
my reach.
Aug 24, 2020
Aug 24, 2020 at 12:23 PM UTC
blood red rosehips
sway on thorny bushes
petals in the wind
Nov 3, 2015
Nov 3, 2015 at 11:01 AM UTC
The land of milk and honey
is liquid again -
all rivers flowing, all
summer winds blowing, all
leaves green and fresh
if there is
a price for love, a price for your touch,
I'll gladly pay the Pharaoh,
I'll gladly be the crutch for
all his wise men and oracles,
all his wives and daughters and sons
I'll carry their burdens with joy,
every day, night for night,
spurned on by the promise of
your lips, your thighs,
your honeysuckle skin, your
rose colored hair, your
sun-kissed face, the spots dancing on your nose.
In the land of milk and honey
I found my worship in its rivers,
its seas of gold and pearl,
its lap that's filled with lilacs and rosehips,
and I will kiss you good morning until
the sun doesn't rise and
the stars don't shine and
the moon doesn't watch our prayers at night anymore.
Jun 16, 2020
Jun 16, 2020 at 10:03 AM UTC
The last rose petals fall to the ground
leaving the rosehips bare
as autumn’s chill again comes around
to strip blooms that had been fair
The rosehips have hairs all wiry and grey
that also break off, one by one
Her color is gone, she fades away
until this rose lady’s season is done
Her petals arrayed on frosty soil
decay gently in the cold rain
while in her hips, seeds are born
to bring forth new roses again
Oct 9, 2024
Oct 9, 2024 at 5:35 AM UTC
Kaleidoscope of colour, tone and hue,
Music of universe in clear view,
Metre, tempo, melody and form,
Orchestral dance of earth's perform
Red of blood, carnage and shame,
Lust and fire, vitality and flame,
Crimson lips, love 'n ardour
Rosehips, poppies, alstroemeria
Orange, the dying streaks of sunset,
Colour o' autumn, auburn 'n russet,
Yellow of marigolds and daffodils of spring,
Rays of sunshine, crown of a king
Green, budding vegetables, life in leaf,
Emerging fruit, as nights wax brief,
Secret of sacred, cerulean sky,
Depths of the oceans in baby's eye
Indigo, the aura, 'n shade between us,
Introspective Saturn with yearn o' Venus,
Violet, a vision in sparkling dew,
Tip-toe of angels in morning sky-blue.
Not for us the rust-dust of mars,
Drab rocks o' Mercury or ash o' moon-star,
The greys of the Moon and Jupiter's orange
Are the lots of the bare, the barren 'n boring
For us white light gives peak presentation
Purity dividing in seven parts,
The King's love 'n kiss and covenantation
To human cognition, His heart in our hearts.
Next time you witness cosmic narration,
Give ear 'n thought to divine proclamation,
For not in heaven is His abode
But in the twinkling twilight o' life's trying road
Apr 18, 2021
Apr 18, 2021 at 6:38 AM UTC
The indigenous Alcantara explodes across
the garden floor, unwanted and unloved.
Rosehips are nipped
to give extra nourishment to the rose bush.
The blossoming pink Tree Mallows will last to January,
until then they are left alone.
Brambles are cut at their base
excising their climber roots,
nor forgetting the unheralded demoisturising Ivy.
My Cleparata Eremurus tubers
are gently put into the ground.
Nov 14, 2021
Nov 14, 2021 at 4:07 AM UTC