These two charming fragments from the summer countryside are included in Andrew Young's Selected Poems (Carcanet).

No undertow of bleakness here from the Scots cleric poet.

AT AMBERLEY WILD BROOKS

Watching the horses stand

And bend their long heads Roman-nosed,

With thick cheek veins exposed,

So close to where the brook's bank shelves

They almost meet themselves

In the smooth water sliding by,

I think it strange creatures so great

Can be shut in by wooden gate

And brook no deeper than my hand,

And not like Pegasus shoot wings and fly.

THE HAYSTACK

Too dense to have a door,

Window or fireplace or a floor,

They saw this cottage up,

Huge bricks of grass, clover and buttercup

Carting to byre and stable,

Where cow and horse will eat wall, roof and gable.