SEVEN FIELDS TO FORTY ACRES

And the farm endured
seven fields to forty acres
the days of my father
saw grass and crops rotate
his toiling obsession now spent
gave way to a bigger scale

the old house storeyed
by one and a half
the bedroom where I slept
in the shadow of an older brother

the roof of grey slate
the peak of my world
reached a childhood sky

the overgrown garden
the consequence of labours elsewhere
the sycamore tree
my view of a world outside

the patch of monkshood remained
where I trapped bees in a jar
the fuchsia bush with flowers to pick
and suck nectar from within

the old dirt track road
the start of a jouney far beyond
the realm of a farm
and the dreams of a boy