The young red-box <br />balance on straggly trunks <br />beside the track <br />where <br />fourteen years ago <br />I lived and loved and reared <br />my madcap family. <br /> <br />Their blushing bark <br />is rough <br />and paper dry. <br />Their coin-shaped <br />leaves glint <br />in glaucous profusion <br />like blue-grey sentinels <br />on guard <br />beside the road. <br /> <br />A sudden childhood flash <br />of marmite jars <br />with lids nail-stabbed <br />and gentle beetles <br />hiding <br />from eager <br />grubby hands.<br /><br />Alison Cassidy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/eucalyptus-polyanthemos/
