Tom Rudge's nostalgic poem, Hay, begins with the words "May is the Maddest Month." As we enter a May unlike any most of us have known, it seems a good time to share it. Poem read on the video by the late Charles Gillette, who also features in the film.
May is the maddest month
when the hearts of English men
hunger for the hay
when the hills are shorn, styled and layered
the grass mown, dried and rained upon
teddered, turned and toasted
steaming, scratching, stinking
green, yellow, brown
baled and tied and tied again
In the yard, in the night,
the tractor growls a summons
the hay's waiting to be stacked
bales to be flung from the trailor's back
None can sleep while stars are bright
and the slain grass smoulders;
in the field the diesel's light
gathers winter fodder
In my nose, there's the scent of a thousand lawns
a park freshly cut, burnt by sun
the barns in my brain fill with bales
a candle burns them all to dust
Copyright: By application
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