2nd Class (Peadar) Poem

THE ASH TREE (2nd Class)

Oh, ash tree, my beauty!

Your leaves always are odd-numbered

With fives, nines, threes and elevens

But not twos or fours.

Each day you grow taller

Your trunk’s looking quite humongous

You’re taller than Dublin’s Spire

As tall as King Kong

Your flowers so light and fragrant

With colours of pink and purple

The bees like to hum about them

And give them a sniff

Your wood is so bendy

It’s used to make real strong hurleys

They bend just like rubber

Your flexible friend

With cracked bark so sharpish

You’d break your foot if you kicked it.

But ash dieback will soon kill you

That terrible disease

Peadar Donnelly, June 21, 2024