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Jenny Hamlett

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Green Man (St Edith's Church, Eaton-under-Heywood)

Leaves flow from my round face.
I laugh in the woods.  It’s my laughter
you hear when you trip on a stone
or skid down the well of a steep, sharp slope.

I startle the wood pigeon
so his heavy, rattling flutter bursts
from beneath your feet.

                                    And I close the trees
together where each dark trunk meets
another. They curl into thickets
you can’t beat through.

I have watched you
for centuries.

Though carved in your church
on a withered beam
I’m tall as a beech,
as persistent as weeds.
I will rot this building.

I float high above
while weddings and funerals
pass and pass,
and each new generation slips
beneath my grass.

Look,
how the leaves sprout from my mouth.

I’m mistletoe and ice in winter,
white anemone and harebell in spring.
I’m the wild pink rose,
the hazelnut, uncracked.
I am before your beginning
and after your end.

I’m the face in the pool
waiting ....

Page(s) 5-6

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