Ode to Gaea

 ​Gaea hangs her blooms along the boughs,
Sends the lovers
To the wood at dawn, feet wet,                               Easter, 1820
For violets and jonquils,
 
To lie among the periwinkles,
And hear the lark ascending
Through the mist
Above the smoking hills.
 
                                    ~
Gaea hangs her blooms along the boughs
But no one sees
The forget-me-nots, thick and blue,                                   Easter, 1920
Or the vines come into bud:
 
The flowers fade unpicked;
Unseen, unloved,
The boys are lost
In fields of wire and mud.
 
                                    ~
Gaea hangs her blooms along the boughs,
But no one sees
The anemones pink and white,                                Easter, 2020
Or the green flames on the old vine:
 
The boys are in their rooms,
Sending nudes
To a dozen girls
They’ll only meet online.
 
                                    ~
Flash-floods hang tyres along the boughs,
But no one sees
The orchard gone, the bees all dead,                                  Easter, 2120
The sky that hums with drones:
 
Forget-me-not, forget-me-not,
Gaea whispers on the breeze,
But no flowers grow
In fields of dust and bones.