Rehearsing Alfresco (Poetry)

Beside the ruined abbey’s soaring arch
the band performs a military march
that stirs the sap of hawthorn, elm and larch.

A concert out-of-doors their rite of spring,
as blossom shivers and the valleys ring
with trumpets sounding a fresh offering

to pagan gods caught napping in the sun
and roused by fanfares passionately flung,
the brass notes blending, melting into one.

It seems all nature harkens — the hills lie
absorbing every echo, breezes sigh
as music swells to touch the spellbound sky.