“Weeping” was captured in Castle Park in Colchester on the last Sunday in September 2019. The river Colne winds through the bottom of the park and following the river leads to a number of photographic opportunities. The trees, the white house and the reflections made this image one I was sure I wanted to capture.
Weeping
Why do we call the willow weep,
long strings not how our tears flow?
Is it stream water habitat,
those fronds beside the river’s edge
that trail a wake through darkened hours,
form sallow salix saline course
of tearful drips from fragile ducts?
Is it some photophobia,
both warmth and light excluded there,
fresh growth not reaching for the sun,
but downward glance, a cower dance,
arboreal submissive stance?
Less victim as survivor, once,
now graceful in her second chance,
from Hamlet to Othello drawn,
crack cricket, sad song far removed,
lament, reflective, mirror bank?
It moves me to the psalmist’s lyres,
those hanging harps in Babylon,
the gardens, Eden, apple trees,
lost paradise, a comforter.
© Stephen Kingsnorth 2020