THEY say that whin can be seen somewhere in bloom all 12 months of the year; but of course spring is the time of its great efflorescence.
Here the Welsh master R S Thomas celebrates it under its other name, gorse. The piece is in his Collected Poems, 1945-1990 (Phoenix Press, £14.99).
THE BANK
Meditating upon gold
we prick the heart on its thorns.
Yellow, yellow, yellow hair
of the spring, the poet cries,
admiring the gorse bushes
by the old stone wall. But the maiden's
hair overflows the arms
of the hero. Though you sit down
a thousand years, the echo
of the petals is inaudible
in the sunlight. Explain to me
why we use the same word
for the place that we store our money in,
and that other place where the gorse blows.
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