'Like something almost being said ... ' Trees in leaf in Kew Gardens. Photograph: David Levene/Guardian
Coming rather late to the table, as ever, but on the grounds that late is better than never, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you all that April is National Poetry Month over in the US. Now in its 12th year, the month was the brainchild of The Academy of American Poets - the inaugural celebration was held in 1996 and it's been going from strength to strength since then - you can find out more about the events and initiatives surrounding the month on the AAP website. Stateside bloggers, meanwhile, are observing the month by posting a poem a day on their blogs, so in support of our American brethren and sustren, I've decided to do the same. Here's today's - particularly suitable for this time of year, I think - technically a month early, I suppose, but piercingly beautiful, whenever you read it.
The Trees by Philip Larkin
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.
