Rings of Grain

The Trees

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new.
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh.
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

- Philip Larkin

This is the second blip I have taken of the rings seen on a cross-section of a tree trunk.

I've never thought of how the trees budding into leaf and flower each Spring is seen as a renewing and rebirth and yet the tree is also getting older each year just like us!

We are having a great time with Jo and Erin and need to stop now as we are watching "About Time" together