‘You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking’
~ Seamus Heaney
I was surprised to discover so many blackberries in the orchard. I don’t know why, but I guess because I expected them to be shrivelled and lustreless from the recent summer heat. However, they hang ripe, plump & plentiful making a delicious addition to my fruit salad. The joy of foraging for food in nature has never diminished for me. I recall the excitment of our annual late summer ‘pilgrimage’ down to the ‘Weald of Kent’ just for the purpse of ‘blackberry picking’ and Seamus Heaney’s poem by the same name evokes those happy memories.
I May Have Italy 