SCARLET PETALS

Poppies bloom in Spain from March through to April and I think of them as my birthday flower. The 'campo' is bright with Spring flowers and will grow wild and green after the rains falling this Easter time. In a few short weeks the heat of the sun will start to dry the earth as Summer approaches.

SCARLET PETALS

Here poppies grow on road sides or

sway on slim green legs dotted over

rocky terraces, the land worthless as

abandoned almond trees rewild.

Scarlet petals, as delicate as the tissue

sheets we split with licked chubby fingers,

breath parting paper like flitting wings,

scrunched into twisted gaudy blooms.

Flowers tough enough to withstand the

valley gusts billowing to the sea, or the

April rains stinging like shot pellets as dark

clouds scurry over the hills, blotting the sun.

Here poppies herald Spring, heads waving above

golden dandelion, clashing with fuchsia pinks,

vivid amongst the dried stalks of last year’s fennel,

before the searing heat of Summer burns the earth.

Here there are no echoes of northern fields

where blood red poppies parade under grey skies

in honour of the fallen whilst Spain’s hidden dead

remain sleeping in unmarked, earthen graves.