Blighted Husbandry

Our sparse garden stirs, savours spring sunshine,
after night skies ice late frosts over earth’s crust,
stress early shoots, veil thrusted leaves with rime.
Life’s cycles repeat, driven by blind trust.
We walk, talk, try to find an obscure path
overgrown with weeds from lack of tending.
You kick aside dead wood, find our lost track,
faint footprints mark old trails where we once trod.
We bear hardy kernels packed in rucksacks
to sew deep down, renew depleted crops.
Your eyes catch mine, I’m shocked to learn your truth:
duty drives your steps, love fled with our youth.

Ceinwen Haydon writes short stories and poetry. She is widely published in online magazines and print anthologies. Her first chapbook was published in 2019: Cerddi Bach [Little Poems], Hedgehog Press. Her first collection is due to be published in 2020. She is a Pushcart Prize and Forward Prize nominee and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University.

Read more of Ceinwen here.