DIEBACK

This grey November,

The last leaf of the Ash

Glows like an ember,

Defying the dieback

In the stone-cold sunset.

The north wind will dash

It down to winter ground,

But it may grow back yet,

If a Jack-in-the-Green

Can still be found

Deep in the Halloween.

(C. IGR 2012)

The news that broke in 2012 that Britain's ash trees were facing a similar fate to that        which decimated the elm tree population during the 1970s was depressing. One hopes
that the Dieback disease threatening the ash will have only limited consequences.

The picture was taken during late autumn in the Leicester University botanical gardens.