Cherry Tree.

 

Me and the dog, the dog and me,

The leaves still cling to the Cherry tree,

Me and the dog we weaken with age,

The Cherry tree writes on a different page.

 

The dog and the Cherry tree age much the same,

While one gets much stronger the other grows lame,

I for myself am the foil for them both,

Being no longer fruitful and given to sloth.

 

Were the cherry tree barren perhaps I would care,

Still the crows consume all of the fruit it can bear,

I’ve grapes in the season to burden my vine.

But the Woodpigeons get them and none will be mine.

 

The fish in the pond have a heater or two,

And if they got cold would the goldfish turn blue?

To March from October they’re kept nice and warm,

While I walk the dogs in the teeth of the storm.

 

We have just acquired a brand new ‘Eco’ car.

On so little petrol it goes for so far,

But new batteries cost quite a fortune I’m told,

And the bill will come in when all are quite old.

 

But then we must do what we should for this earth,

After all I’ve polluted it right from my birth,

With gas and with diesel I still do my share,

But now in my seventies why should I care.

 

I suppose it’s because I am told that I should,

You have to provide for the public good.

The flour for your bread is from nitrate fed fields,

And you wouldn’t pay double to have smaller yields.

 

Then antibiotics the boon or the curse,

Can the cough that I’ve got become something far worse?

Perhaps it’s a touch of the avian flu,

I’ll visit the doctor she’ll know what to do.

 

Women doctors, another thing, where do you look,

To me if it’s ‘Personal’ I’m totally stuck.

The fact that she’s twelve is no comfort at all,

She may have a calling but I’m loath to call.

 

I suppose by not bothering I’m saving some cash,

So good with the NHS under the lash,

I thought that the pharmacists knowledge would do,

And then I found out that she was twelve too.

 

The policemen are twelve and they’re all five foot three,

I remember when policemen were bigger than me,.

But then like the Cherry tree I was a child,

Bound to grow sturdy unwilling and wild.