A Good Season For Blackberry Picking

A good season for blackberry-picking 

Blackberry picking on a late summer's afternoon 

True-black berries, plump and shiny 

Ready to be picked  

The serotinal sun, reassuringly safe 

A warm sea you can always dive into 

Never to feel the icy chill on your lips 

A boy with freckles ventures in the bush then jumps out 

Tearful, arms scratched a purple blood  

His football found 10 years later, deflated, never to be played again 

A lady in her eighties nimbly plays the games of the blackberry bush 

She cheerfully picks but cannot help wondering if this will be her last home-made crumble 

 The badgers and birds rotate from morning to night shift 

Animals and people gather pleasure from the same tree 

Brambles and knotweed attempt to steal their joy, 

yet somehow never manage to succeed 

Some of the best blackberries on the bush long to be chosen. Some of the best blackberries will never be picked.