January 2012 Tree of Life

Our new series at The Haven in Hereford features the theme of "Tree Of life" which seems to be a universal symbol, although there are many different cultural interpretations of the same basic idea - that humans are rooted in the physical world and yearn upwards toward a spiritual connection. Seamus Heaney often writes about the links between the practical and the poetic; the mystical and the mundane; and that's probably what all these workshops are trying to achieve - a sense of the intrinsic poetry of life. 

 In the first session we looked at local connections and focused on the new pavement art in the Cathedral Close in Hereford.  It was inspired by the carol Jesus Christ the Apple Tree:

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

The work also refers to some lovely local apple varieties: 

Chorister Boy, Hereford Costard, St Lawrence, Ten Commandments, Gloria mundi, Shropshire Pippin and Bulmer’s Norman.

So we had to write about some of these wonderful names.  One writer managed to include them all and Chorister Boy proved very popular and Gloria Mundi became a faded actress.

Here's one variety, or is it a first fruit? 

Chorister Boy

Chorister boy, rosy red

Evangelical, but let it be said

A boy, like his apple’s namesake

Is not always crisp, alert and wide awake.

He has a core of the usual things

Experiences the torment and sadness

Lost freedom brings

Longs to break free from the skin of restraint

Longs to voice the occasional complaint

But outward display says a lot:

Uniform, hard, shiny, fresh

He is expected to be the best.

When the outer covering is torn away

And life is crunched and eaten away

A few pips and a core

Thrown aside and is no more

The music echoes in memory

Young voices soar!

  

Sonia