Buds Of Hope Poem by Paul Reed

When we walked this day, you and I
In solemn rank or single file
Something silhouetted against the sky
Made us stop, just for a while;

The branches of our favourite sycamore
Once laden with their crowded green
Stripped clean by the autumn before
And the icy winds so keen

Now bore tiny, tight-furled hopeful buds
Along their length and at each swaying end
Like carefully sewn-on emerald studs
Whose sole purpose was our broken hearts to mend;

And, as we set off again on our determined course
To brave the winds and to feel the rain,
In our happy minds we carried that latent force
That would bring us back the Spring again.