'I opened Latitude festival with my poem'

Anna, who is eleven years old, kicked off Latitude Festival this weekend with her poem.

The festival is held in Suffolk, England, and up to 40,000 people attend.

Anna entered her poem into a competition, and came first.

She read it out on the Waterfront Stage, welcoming people to the festival.

The Mother Tree, by Anna

I saunter into the woods, inhale the smell.

Wild garlic, onion? No, wet earth after it rains.

I know this has a special name, I cannot remember, but it is special.

I continue, through the hushing, whispering trees.

They're having a conversation.

From the floor, a sapling, and I look to the nearest tree.

Perhaps the mother, the Mother Tree.

I gaze upon her branches, light dances, moving her leaves.

She talks to me, I talk back, my worries.

She listens with gentle ears like mothers do.

I leave the cover of the canopy, into the gaze of the sun,

Free of worries, fresh from nature, happy to have talked to the mother tree.