"The Cherry Trees" by Edward Thomas

I'm not really one for war poetry or politics, which is generally at the root of war, so it took a bit of browsing for me to find something for this month's Poetry Project theme.*  I remembered, though, a short poem I had read in college that is about war but not really. Edward Thomas' "The Cherry Trees" evokes the image of the cherry blossom in two forms for me - one strewing the coffins of the dead and the other blanketing the path for young lovers to be wed.  Published in 1916 during WWI, the twist is no lovers walk this way today for the war has changed the landscape and culture.

"The Cherry Trees"

The cherry trees bend over and are shedding,
On the old road where all that passed are dead,
Their petals, strewing the grass as for a wedding
This early May morn when there is none to wed.

*The Poetry Project is hosted by Regular Rumination and The Written World.