Gathering Chestnuts
Chestnut Trees near Faversham
I gathered chestnuts today
Walking the paths
In children’s shoes,
Remembering the coat
Placed with loving care
On my back, warm, cosy,
As my mother would want me.
We used to sit by the fire
The flames, blue, green
Build cities in the coals,
And tales imagined
In flaming streets,
Of Knights, Kings, Queens
And prancing horses.
In the window, the aspidistra
A sign that we were English,
St George feeling as warm
As the dragons in the fireplace,
The old folks remembering
The wars, and means testing,
Young men under white crosses.
And this young boy smells again
Blackberry jam on fresh bread,
Apples baked, honeyed, hot
Dripping sultanas and brown sugar;
A salve for raw, conker bruised knuckles,
The season past, Halloween looms,
Offers witches, pumpkins and brooms.
Ah yes, chestnuts crackling
On the hearth, a shovel,
Bouncing nuts poured, steaming,
Fingers sucked, cracking the shells,
Flesh sweet crunched by eager teeth,
So long ago, all this I remember;
Gathering chestnuts today.