FOLLOWING yesterday’s apple thoughts by Robert Frost, here is Andrew Young on a similar fruity theme. The charmingly quirky little piece comes from his Selected Poems (Carcanet, £9.95).
THE SHOWER
The cherry-pickers left their picking
And ladders through the branches sticking
And cherries hung like gouts of blood
Down the long aisles of white-washed wood.
But now the sun is breaking through
Dark clouds that dry to pools of blue
And the smooth Medway lies uncreased
Except for drops the boughs released.
What is it makes the sun so proud
He will not suck a passing cloud
But needs raindrops to quench his thirst?
Well, let him do his picking first.
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