Ragwort
Rag: refers to the plant's
ragged, deeply lobed and divided leaves.
Wort: from the Old English
wyrt, meaning a plant, root, or herb.
Oxford English Dictionary
I have been up early each morning before
the sun begins to burn, working for all
the Kentish horses, or horses of Kent, I will
never see or know this autumn and winter,
or even next spring and summer if pastures run dry,
digging up the tall columns of common ragwort
peppering our 13 acres of grassland, before
our tractor driver comes to mow, tedder and bail.
Jacobea Vulgaris or Senecio Jacobea, a two-faced
weed:
poisoner of horses and cattle when it’s dry
but a flourishing source of nectar for so many
species of invertebrates I cannot begin to name,
except for the day-time flying scarlet and black
Cinnabar moths that flutter around me as I tug
the yellow flower-topped stems from the ground,
or plant a fork into the clawlike purple roots and lift.
We cannot save everyone or everything. We can
only ever do what we believe to be the best
at any given time, for ourselves and others.
The grass is waist high. I am a small piece of the world.
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