This was first published in Drifting Sands Issue Six, December 2020. I was looking through the book where I print out my published pieces ( a trick my father in law taught me – when you need a boost, you can always flick through it). I discovered I’m actually several months behind with it and started poking around the internet. I quite liked this one when I first wrote it, and I still do. This isn’t always the case.
I probably linked to it from the blog when it was published, so apologies if you have seen it before.
Here is the link to the full issue.
Where Roses Fade
Thirty years ago, I rambled through the Leicestershire countryside and saw villages which had collections of crumbling farm buildings and odd nooks of unruly weeds. Stands of tall nettles often concealed rusty machines, and rosebay willowherb blazed in the sun. Now they are tidy, and iron butterflies decorate the fronts of houses built where real butterflies used to feed. They have become development opportunities, and gaps have been filled. Small neat houses and barn conversions proliferate, with block-paved drives and shiny cars. Drinks are taken, and conversations held, where pigs once grunted and chickens scratched. Snouts, though, are still rammed firmly into troughs.
tidy
but the roots of weeds go deep
unnoticed
Comma Butterfly
I hadn’t read that one before but I am gald that I have read it now. It is excellent.
Thank you. I can’t remember which I have linked to in the past – old age. 🙂
Wonderful descriptive prose with excellent poetic distillation
Thank you Derrick. 🙂
Very good!
🙂
That is a good one! And what grows unnoticed often makes itself felt.
Thank you Laurie.
Excellent writing, Simon! So well observed with a touch of cynicism. I also like the shot of the Comma.
That is beautiful writing Quercus. You are a good observer of nature, including mankind.
Thank you Lavinia. 🙂