Tall Nettles
Tall nettles cover up, as they have done
These many springs, the rusty harrow, the plough
Long worn out, and the roller made of stone:
Only the elm butt tops the nettles now.
This corner of the farmyard I like most:
As well as any bloom upon a flower
I like the dust on the nettles, never lost
Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.
Edward Thomas
And that poem in turn brings to mind Mary Oliver’s Milkweed, which, even when standing dry & leafless in the autumn, make it
… easy to believe
each one was once young & delicate, also
frightened; also capable
of a certain amount of rough joy.
