Folk Song by Simon Armitage

You lost your sparkle at the fair,

apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

watched every petal disappear

amoung the glamour and the glare

and dodgem cars and flying chairs

and candy floss and dancing bears,

the goldfish and the silverware.

apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

Glitz and glitter in the air

but blossom neither here or there.

apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

The woods beyond were sparse and spare,

the branches empty handed, bare,

no glint of blossom anywhere.

   apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

You walked the planet for a year,

slept in the jaws of winter's snare,

knelt at a campfire like a prayer.

   apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

Then woke one morning in a rare

illuminated atmosphere.

The trees wore flowers in their hair,

and on the hill you stopped to stare

at blackthorn, apple, cherry, pear,

as blossom blossomed everywhere

and everywhere and everywhere.

   apple, cherry, blackthorn, pear

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Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. He was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2018 and is the Poet Laureate. 'Folk Song' appears in his 2024 collection ‘Blossomise’ published by Faber and Faber in collaboration with the National Trust.