My England – A Patchwork of Greens

by Godfrey J. Ellis – October 2002

This a poem of my impression of England as a land of many shades of green. It is called, “A Patchwork of Green.” It is Merry’s favorite poem. In 2020, she made a quilt based on this poem. Below you can see two views of the quilt, which is illustrated with 8×10 photos from our trips to England. The poem, which was written in 2002, is below.

My England!
Lost in the springtime of my years,
Now, in my autumn, a heritage rediscovered.
I embrace my old-new Britishness.

But my England is neither Queen, nor Thames, nor tower.
Not thatch-roofed cottages, which melt my heart,
Nor even half a millennium of unearthed kin
Who welcome me and give me home, at last.

No, my England is a color,
A symphony of green that fills my mind
And floods my soul at memory’s first call.
Sweeping panoramas, verdant beauty.

My England is a view of distant fields,
A patchwork quilt of greens,
Spread out upon, and over, rolling hills,
Rolling off lighter and lighter and lighter…into mist.

All is softly framed and lined with hedges,
Which edge the patches of the patchwork.
Hedges embracing and loving each green field.
Olive links from English oak, and ash, to Scottish fir.

Rich colors accent those far-away greens,
Gray skies with hope and hint of blue.
Distant dots of white that manicure as they graze.
Gray-brown sprinkles of distant farms and steepled villages.

But most of all, those greens.
Jade of one field, outlined with olive hedgerows,
Emerald grass of another; chartreuse in a third.
Random apple-green, or mint, or moss.

I return to my English roots,
Green land of patches once left and now re-found.
I grasp this patchwork of green,
And wrap myself inside.