Green Thorns and Yellow Flowers by Ross Walsh

The furze has taken over, according
to my mother, and soon will smother the
trees in their infancy. This rocky path
we walk once basked in the shadows of great

evergreen giants. Now the walls are all
green thorns and yellow flowers, not just the
walls but the floor too as hardy furze
pierces skyward from beneath the stones. In

occasional gaps I see the babies;
Sitka Spruce, not even as tall as I
am yet, and everywhere more green thorns
and yellow flowers. Such a long way from

Alaska. Why not smother them that do
not belong here? Has this land not seen more
than enough plantations? Has the furze here
taken over, or simply taken back?

Learn more about Ross on our Contributors’ Page.

(Photo: Chris Penny/flickr.com/ CC-BY ND 2.0)

Introducing the 2023 Best in Rural Writing Contest. $300 in prizes, as well as great exposure for shortlisted authors. Deadline: September 30th, 2023. For more details go here.

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Ross Walsh

"Ross Walsh is a Wexford-born journalist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. He was chosen by the Irish Writers Centre to be a Young Writer Delegate for the 2021 West Cork Literary Festival, and his work has previously been published in Stepaway Magazine, Beir Bua Journal, and The Honest Ulsterman, among others.

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