How lovely is the wall of Japanese creeper
When the skeleton branch spreads
Its green in the May day sunshine
Covers the grey of the aged bricks
Stretches its millions of little palms
Swinging and waving in the golden sunlight
In the gentle summer breeze
It unlocks its joy to everything
The azure of the sky
The snow-white of the clouds
The indifference of the people passing
The disturbance of the cars driven by
The season will deprive its youth
The succulent veins will dry up into winter straws
Yet after the green gently fades away
How will it blaze these last drops of sap
Seething with burning fire before that bleary dust
The dazzling red will never touch an air of the autumn chill
Modified after Joanna