Annest Gwilym

North West Wales, UK

Annest Gwilym is the editor of Nine Muses Poetry. Her poetry has been quite widely published, and has won and been placed in competitions. Her second book, and first full collection - What the Owl Taught Me - is now available here.

Poem completed on 28 April 2020.

The Leaning Tree

Inspired by Pond at Ville d’Avray, With Leaning Trees, Camille Corot, 1873

The city sleeps, only a few miles away,
Its gilded spires and towers wreathed in mist.
As she crosses the meadow to the leaning tree
Her cough punctuates the still, heavy air,
A glaze of sweat sheens her face
In spite of the dawn chill.

A lone blackbird calls in a blasted tree.

The threadbare tree leans in the wind –
A wild, flayed figure on the riverside.
Instead of the wide world of fields and hills
Where roots could grasp the moss of the soil,
It chose to grow too close to a river.
Weeks of winter storms will crumble its banks,
Carry it away on the implacable weight of water.

 

First published in Nine Muses Poetry, 1 May 2020.