Do You Remember The Old Orchard?
By Jane Hyphen
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Do you remember the old orchard?
The apple-dapple shade
Among gnarly trees we grew
June drops and carpets of leaves
On littered floors we played
Frittered time lost in flow
You piggybacked a girl
A waif with hips like spurs
The sun shone hot enough
To blush the loaded fruit
And brand the scene
Forever in our hearts
Do you remember the old orchard?
Before they built the houses
Razed our playground
To make way for toy town
Square set, brick brown
Back almost to back
Strips of green between
Now who plays?
In concrete deserts
They only work and work
To live in Orchard Close
Where once blossoms grew
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Comments
"Among gnarly trees we grew"
People go on about only a tiny percentage of Britain is built over but so many writers on ABC alone have experienced beautiful places they loved as children being "developed". The woods at the end of the garden where I grew up have recently been cut down and now await planning permission. I know people need houses, I don't know what the solution is. But I wish it did not involve destroying the places where children can grow up knowing a little of the natural world and its magic
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It brought to mind some old
It brought to mind some old orchards near here. Lovely gnarled trees and fallers and scents.
Is so much more housing needed because of families splitting? Could there be some even small wild spots by playgrounds? Have to keep them 'safe areas' and not get too overgrown I guess.
Rhiannon
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I enjoyed this Jane. It made
I enjoyed this Jane. It made me think of an old man waving a stick, saying 'it used to be fields here' when I was a very small child (in London!), and now I am much much older, there are places where I could also say the same. It is sad and I don't know what the solution is either
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