Seeds

We met beneath the cannon fire,
Our heads ducked against the shrapnel rain
That stung our necks and ripped through fragile air
And lashed our backs; we gritted through the pain.

And when the dust had settled down
To show a blood-scorched earth,
We walked across the nettled ground
Together - sowing seeds upon the turf.

We watched as saplings grew to tree;
Mine wild, untamed - hers silent, full of grace.
I grew for her a canopy
And she for me a resting place.

Our paths once winding lost were joined together,
Her love a willow tree, and mine a thicket briar.