The Natural world

 

We catch glimpses of it

as if paintings in a gallery

We walk or drive past it

seldom to experience or feel it

It becomes a side show

vaguely admired for its beauty

We criss cross it feetlingly

but never to touch or hold

We have distanced ourselves from it

as we inhabit bricks and mortar

Walk on pavements or drive on tarmac

We prefer our televisions and computers

and find art only in what we create

How often do we gaze about us

to study the clouds and stars

When last did we walk in the rain

or trudge through crisp snow

When did you last hear bird song

or the cascade of a waterfall

It is still there as pristine as ever

rich in colour, drenched in rain

caressed by the sun, teased by the wind

In truth we have abandoned it

an irrelevant vista for which time does not permit

Now only real estate, to be exploited

a place to dump our plastic waste

Yet its beauty has a potency

as it renews and revitalises itself

without out help or human effort

When buildings are neglected

the natural world regains its hold

to erode and decay our temporary structures

It is the ultimate master

here at the beginning of time

indestructible as we are destructible

a world without end