Oh ash tree
You have been dealt a blow
Slowly dying
Your bark all blown
Your branches dead
And hanging
Only the crown
Pushes out
Small amounts of green shoots.
Where once you stood
So proud
So numerous
Sheltering the sheep
From the hot sun
The birds in your boughs
Now you are going the way
Of the elm
That few can even remember
That once stood in the hedgerows
Tall and dark
The hawk moth nestled
In the bark.
What will replace you?
What shall we plant?
The mighty ash
Is falling at last.
Chris Jagger