EVEN a weed can serve a poet.

Here, one of the most rank ones summons up a vivid rural picture. Edward Thomas is the poet, writing in 1916.

TALL NETTLES

Tall nettles cover up, as they have done

These many springs, the rusty harrow, the plough

Long worn out, and the roller made of stone:

Only the elm butt tops the nettles now.

This corner of the farmyard I like most:

As well as any bloom upon a flower

I like the dust on the nettles, never lost

Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.