Milestones
{An Umbrella Invitational}


David G. Anthony

was born Wales and educated at Hull Grammar School and St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where he studied modern history.  He lives now in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, a stone’s throw from the churchyard where Thomas Gray is buried, and works in London, in financial services.

He is the author of the poetry collections Words to Say and Talking to Lord Newborough.




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Warming

The seasons’ course seems strange to me,
more strange than I remember;
wild flowers bloom unseasonably:
primroses in November.

The young pretend to blame us all.
Well, youth’s a great dissembler:
May was forever, I recall,
and there was no November.

These days I’ll take what Nature sends
to hoard for dour December:
a glow of warmth as autumn ends;
primroses in November.

 


Artist’s Statement

I was at home a few years ago convalescing from acute peritonitis following a botched operation, feeling mildly surprised to be alive.

In England primroses are flowers of early spring  so I was surprised to see them flourishing in my garden in November. Their confusion seemed in some way to mirror mine.

This poem does not mark a damascene conversion, but it definitely heralded a shift in perspective. Since writing it, I’ve been more inclined to enjoy life without judging it, and to take special pleasure in its late surprises.
 
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