Green

For the Green Party in Colchester, 10th birthday bash, held at the Waiting Room. I was invited to perform (what a privilege), and decided to write something especially for the occasion. In a desperate attempt to be original I called it this!

Green

Green is the colour of my son's wellington boots

that he lets me wear for wet dog walks

around the village green.

Green

is all around us

England: still the land of pleasant green

with its little villages

and football pitches

cheese and onion crisp packets

and leaf strewn ditches.

Though fast becoming wrapped

in a cloak of lifeless grey

the woodland sacrificed

for the motorway.

Green was the colour of my Dad's estate car

he would drive us to the swimming pool in it

and himself to the pub

(and back again)

and once on holiday to the Isle of Wight.

But we all know that a car

even a green coloured one

is not very green.

Green is the colour of Spring

those little shoots that appear,

heralding the start of

another year.

The sea is sometimes green

a pea is green

it's also the colour

of mint ice cream which

even on a rainy day

eases the cares of life away.

I always ate my greens

especially on a Sunday.

They're good for you Mum would say

and she was right.

But now we all eat too much brown

and white.

Mum sleeps with the green now

she has for some time now,

green is the blanket

for her long goodnight.

And that's all right.

That's all right.