The Water Meadow. A poem for two voices 1930 – 2000

by | Nov 1, 2007 | Poetry | 0 comments

First voice:
Tail flicking wagtails, yellow and pied,
Darting and catching their insect food,
Their young at their heels, begging for more.
Tail swishing cows cropping ancient herbage,
Their pollen covered hooves, and yellow lips,
Fertilising the masses of buttercups, and cowslips.
By disturbing the insects who help in the act.

Second voice:
The old footpath is now a tarmac drive.
The stream unseen in an underground tunnel.
Lines of chalets all neatly conforming
With space in between for a shining four by four,
Mountain bikes, dogs on leads, drying towels
Children happily running, shouting and playing.
Has anyone told them of nature’s way?

First voice:
The farmers wife’s Christmas Geese busily eating,
All growing fat to command a good price.
The Gander alert, and bossing his flock.
Head outstretched, hissing out warnings,
Then rushing to attack those not heeding,
Wings reaching out- half flying- half running,
Into the fray like a ship at Trafalgar.

Second voice:
The sculpered pond with it’s quota of ducks.
Grass neatly clipped by a ten foot mower.
The tractor buzzes round, now the ditches are filled in,
All geared up to progress, whilst making money.
Everything done to please the residents.
I hope they are happy with their annual visit.
Do they realize that this is man’s way, not nature’s ?

First voice:
High in the sky a heavenly chorus as skylarks hover,
House martins. Swallows , feed on the wing,
Ducking, swerving, in scintillating flight,
Plovers, and Corncrakes, searching the ground,
For beetles, ladybirds, and daddy long legs.
They feast grow strong, as nature intended,
One species sustaining the life of another.

Second voice:
The old farm buildings have all disappeared,
Cow sheds, pigsties, and sweet smelling stables,
Now replaced with red bricked executive suites,
No grunting old pig with pink squeaky piglets,
Just shiny big cars, and plump city men.
Loud music, senseless laughter, infantile jokes,
Replacing the sounds of animals, and nature at work.

First voice:
The fauna stretching out in its infinite beauty,
Ragged robin, marsh marigold, and spikey mouse tail.
All growing together in jumbles harmony
There names competing with the beauty of species,
Meadow sweet, Penny Royal, Cuckoo Flower, Gentian,
Cabbage thistle, Buttercups, Cowslips and Daisies.
Reflecting the centuries of nature maturing,

Second voice:
The Water Meadow now changed to a holiday village.
They tried very hard to make every thing fit in,
But now it as man, and not nature intended.
A century of nature, lost forever, by human endeavour.

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