‘Back to the Greenwood’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier

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Back to the Greenwood

The spring has come to England once again
But I am far away and cannot see
The blackthorn blossoms blowing in the wind,
And blackbirds in the heavens, flying free.
The sun, grown potent, burns the standing stones,
Releasing things enthralled by winter’s hand,
Igniting blood grown cold and mending bones,
Awakening the life-force of the land.
O England, how my heart longs for you now!
Within your hills my fathers’ gods yet sleep.
I would return to you but know not how,
An ocean lies between us, wild and deep.
In dreams then, to the greenwood I will go,
To join the mummers in the Hal-an-Tow.

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Hal-an-Tow: a traditional Cornish May Day song

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Patricia Rogers Crozier has been published in The Washington Post. She holds a B.S. in Physics from Mississippi College. She resides in Gulf Breeze, Florida and works at Publix.