Home » Poems » Hilda Greenhough » The Clearing

The Clearing

I learned a new thing about trees.
Do take care when you cut them down.
For flies will enter with the breeze
Into a home from the cleared ground.

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Richard Lamoureux

Date: 4/27/2025 7:01:00 AM

Good to know.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 4/27/2025 11:26:00 PM

I know now.

Karen Jones

Date: 4/26/2025 5:04:00 PM

Thanks for the education I didn’t know this!

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 4/26/2025 8:00:00 PM

I didn't either. I can guess that the ground under trees is wetter and cooler. With shelter in the ground, flies can breed in safety.

Alesia Leach

Date: 4/8/2025 4:15:00 PM

This hit me like a quiet truth. It reminded me how clearing out a house doesn’t just make space--it stirs up everything you thought you’d packed away. Beautiful and haunting.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 4/8/2025 7:26:00 PM

Thank you.

Paula Goldsmith

Date: 4/4/2025 11:50:00 AM

I enjoyed reading your wonderful "The Clearing" write. I do not like flies. They are dirty. Have a wonderful day/weekend writing away..........

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 4/4/2025 6:38:00 PM

Thank you for your visit. A good tip is to buy protective covers that look like net tents. They fit over food to keep flies off food.

Michael Tor

Date: 3/31/2025 9:02:00 PM

Thanks for your message Hilda. We don't have many flies up in the mountains where I live thank God, but we have ticks, and Bears, and coyotes, and Bob cats, some say A wolf or two and even a Mountain Lion has been spotted from Canada making his way down. Hugs.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/31/2025 9:11:00 PM

Good to hear from you. We have mountain lions and deer. Hunter and prey. Also, we have owls.

Kim Rodrigues

Date: 3/28/2025 10:51:00 AM

Ooh…wow! When we had a good cleaning of our yard, we had a problem.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/28/2025 2:04:00 PM

You had flies, too? I guess they like shade.

Ink Empress

Date: 3/28/2025 5:07:00 AM

Dear Hilda, Well written poem on the challenges that come with cutting down trees, iv never noticed this but i hope you can find a solution. Is there a way to get rid of the flies maybe pest control? It must be so hard, its always nice to read your personal experiences woven in the most seamless manner with sublime rhymes! Pleasure visiting your page today. Sending you light always

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/28/2025 7:12:00 AM

Flies are gone. We had a windstorm and the flies were blown away. The Earth is breathing again.

Panagiota Romios

Date: 3/27/2025 11:59:00 PM

Nice to see you again. Learning is fun, isn’t it? Have a good week. Panagitota Romios..lol Pangie

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/28/2025 2:03:00 PM

What? I'll fix it.

Kim Rodrigues
Date: 3/28/2025 10:53:00 AM

You have commenting turned off, so just saying hello, Pangie. ~ Kim

Kim Rodrigues
Date: 3/28/2025 10:52:00 AM

You have commenting turned off, so just saying hello, Pangie. ~ Kim

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/28/2025 8:14:00 AM

I'm a little confused.

Joseph May

Date: 3/21/2025 6:34:00 AM

We keep clearing away the trees to put up "concrete jungles"

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/21/2025 7:34:00 AM

Lol. I never knew I'd face so much condemnation for cutting down these four straggle trees. I want to keep forests pristine. I was forced to cut them, I miss them, but I don't want prowlers. All who complain live in houses. ?

Paige Hind

Date: 3/19/2025 11:16:00 PM

I hate trees being cut down. Well said, short poem.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/20/2025 12:12:00 AM

These trees aren't the forever kind anyhow. They die young but reproduce. Not thousand years old trees.

Sotto Poet

Date: 3/18/2025 11:52:00 AM

I too despise pruning trees, as you pointed out. In numerous ways, trees serve as sentinels. Destroying them carelessly is unacceptable. Well done Hilda.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/18/2025 1:46:00 PM

I was forced into cutting these trees because a small area in front of my house needed to be open because of criminal characters. I have many more trees, as well as emerging saplings.

Joe Dimino

Date: 3/18/2025 11:06:00 AM

Yep, some nature is irreplaceable -- once gone, extinct!

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/18/2025 1:43:00 PM

Neither the trees nor the flies are in danger of becoming extinct. The birds that need rooster may need more trees. I have plenty more trees for them.

Valsa George

Date: 3/18/2025 9:01:00 AM

Your observation is right. I too have seen flies entering the house through the clearing once trees are cut down, especially during certain seasons of the year. Trees stand guard in many ways. They shouldn't be recklessly destroyed.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/18/2025 9:10:00 AM

I hated cutting them. My safety depends on thwarting a prowler. My husband has died and I am alone.

Akham Nilabirdhwaja Singh

Date: 3/18/2025 6:39:00 AM

The poem warns against the careless destruction of trees The consequences we are getting at present are alarming .Very Nice

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/18/2025 9:09:00 AM

I agree, however, I had to cut some trees to get a better view. I have had an interloper prowling my home.

Yann Rolland

Date: 3/18/2025 6:24:00 AM

i learn something precious and quite interesting, enjoyed your poem

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/18/2025 9:07:00 AM

Thank you.

Christopher Delegans

Date: 3/17/2025 9:04:00 PM

Good life advice can be so poetic sometimes. Thanks for sharing, Hilda.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/17/2025 9:53:00 PM

I probably wrote this in frustration. I hope they've left.

Oliver Mckeithan

Date: 3/17/2025 8:35:00 PM

Good one Hilda. They sure do.

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/17/2025 9:52:00 PM

I hope yoi enjoyed it.

Gershon Wolf

Date: 3/17/2025 7:12:00 PM

I've learned that the world is a sadder place too...

Evelyn Judy Buehler

Date: 3/17/2025 5:56:00 PM

Yours is advice worth remembering, Hilda. Flies are a menace! Very best wishes. :)

Karen Jones

Date: 3/17/2025 5:21:00 PM

Wow! I appreciate this information.

Zyrool Gifford

Date: 3/17/2025 10:57:00 AM

Hello Hilda, that’s not nice I hope they are all gone now. Thank you for sharing, I have learnt something new today. Have a wonderful new week ahead, my friend.

CayCay Jennings

Date: 3/17/2025 9:47:00 AM

Are these trees in America? Surely, not here in Florida. Your well-written brevity lines gave me a fly freak out. Once, at least 50 flies SUDDENLY appeared in my kitchen, on our forks and plates while eating. We later figured out they had just hatched in the hefty trash bag on the kitchen floor. It was so so so gross. Obviously, I reacted from your poetry lines, felt the visual which is what a poem should do! Stay fly free ... CayCay

Hilda Greenhough
Date: 3/17/2025 10:19:00 AM

Thank you for your comment. Flies, like mice, have poor hygiene. I'm sure there is a purpose for them, but I do not need them. The trees are desert Juniper in America.