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Without central heating either, eh? A ballad of (happily) lost times? Doug On Nov 19, 2014, at 9:33 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > The Mole > > To the back lawn at Mead Close > Cottage, Orchard Lane, Old Boars Hill, > in which I froze with family, > winter of 1980, > > and on into the spring > when all was wakening, > the moles of Oxfordshire > sent a strong burrower. > > Wonderful the small black > mounds of loam out the back > that his invisible might > created in the night, > > the unstoppable force > of that soft blind mouse- > like creature! We beamed. > The landlord schemed - > > he and his family > in the large front property > wanted perfect turf > for summer croquet. > > They knew about property - > wasn’t he a law don > at Oxford University? > where college lawns > > had solved the whole mole > problem to eternity > by pouring mole-poison > down mole-holes stealthily! > > Shame on the tenants, > mere Australians, > siding with moles > against Old Boars Hill’s > > venerable practices! > What could we do but sigh? > Over the back fences > were fields moles went through > > at liberty. Wandering there > in Victorian times some > local poet dreamed how > a scholar-gypsy haunts the scene. > > While I dreamed, my son attended > Matthew Arnold School that term - > without being taught > a single poem. > > His sister dropped her jacket > at the back fence where > a cow almost ate it. > And that was our Oxfordshire. Douglas Barbour [log in to unmask] Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress). Recording Dates (Rubicon Press). that we are only as we find out we are Charles Olson