Tiny coal-black fists raised on naked twigs
threaten to open into purple Fraxinus blossom:
if the ash before the oak,
then we’ll surely have a soak.
But then I spot a haze of ginger Quercus buds,
an Easter bonnet veil around grey branches:
if the oak before the ash,
then we’ll only have a splash.
Kim M. Russell, 2017
Images found on Alamy and Pinterest
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Flash 55 PLUS!
This Sunday Kerry has brought us the Flash 55 Challenge! The rules of this prompt have not changed: Write a piece of poetry or prose on a subject of our choice in precisely 55 WORDS.
writing in north norfolk 
The idea of buds ‘threatening’ to open made me smile – also like the way you have included the adage. It puts one in mind of the countryside, where rhythms are aligned to natural cycles of seasons and weather.
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Thank you, Kerry. I do like those old sayings, which contain a certain truth. 🙂
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This sounds like a truth from the time we were farmers… here the oak and ash are so lazy and are still asleep… but those jet black buds of ash is something that I recognize well.
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Unfortunately many of our ash trees are suffering from ash dieback. Trees are such wonderful plants, I hate to think of any species becoming extinct.
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From now on, I will demand all my whether updates to be poetized. I love this.
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😊🌈🌂🌞
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Brava.. 🌹🌹🌹
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Thanks!
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I love the idea of buds threatening to open and bloom their way into the world 😀 Beautifully penned.
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Thank you, Sanaa!
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Delightful…I had never heard those sayings before.
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Thanks Paul!
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The buds here followed through with their threat… A bloom too soon is a leaf that loses its grip.
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Our apple trees and the ornamental cherry are full of it – dark buds about to explode into white and pink!
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