
Sweet Vernal-grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum
The hill-pasture is a pleasant place
when sweet vernal-grass is blowing,
its flavour always good to taste
while the summer hayfield’s growing,
filled with essential oil of coumarin, flushed,
its scent strongest when cut or crushed.
photograph: Brinkies Brae, Stromness, Orkney, August