Walk with me

Will you take a walk with me
Through the ancient wooded history?
Have you stood and listened, shared,
Have you ever even dared?

The crack of willow rotten to the core.
The silver leaves, a tangled wig,no more.
His roots lie deap in rock and sodden soil,
Like a thousand snakes they coil.

The mighty oak shakes off his gall,
Acorns drop like hailstones in a squall.
Leaves rustle like a creaking hide.
Five hundred years he has belied.

Amonst the must be careful where you tread,
Squash not the berries black and red.
Mind where the chesnuts and the conkers lie,
The beech nuts browner than a squirrel's eye.

High above the fir tree sings his whispering tune
Trunk so straight he serenades the moon
His dark and spiney coat all light blots out,
The earth a dreft of needles all about.

Mind where the fungi ghostly grows
And where in spring the wind flower blows.
Where the bluebells ring their silent peals
And violet's wondrous perfume heals.

The hazel tree with silver bark and katkins gold,
Lends itself to legends old.
Beneath it moss like carpet for your feet.
An ancient grove where spirits meet?

Look where the rowan grows by deap,dark pool
It's berries scarlet like a blushing fool.
It's image mirrored in the water still
That seaps like treacle to the rill.

Pass by the holly green than never fades
To where the ivy drapes the hidden glades
Where high above the mistletoe with berries white,
Wraps the boughs in cloak of night.

Have you heard the whispers,heard the tales
Of ancient times along the wooded vales?
Did you see Demeter's tranced smile,
Whilst The Green Man dances all the while?