5 OCTOBER 1991, Page 34

Chrysanthemums

In the late autumn when my sister died Spiders netted the chrysanthemum-beds.

Cutting tall flowers for the All Souls market, Her hands moved tender among golds and reds.

It's in black earth, I remember she once told me, These flowers find the brilliance of their heads.

The flowers glower red-gold through a silver Shifting of rain-drops upon spider-threads.

Graeme Wilson