People & Landscape Poem by Vanya Orr

People and Landscape

Some people stay,
In the landscape.
I close my eyes -
they are there…
I open them
And they are gone…

Slipping through the shrubs
Like birds through lantana-
Part of the dark
Fabric
Formed and forming
Shadows in the brightness-
The little people.

…………………….

Isn’t it lovely
The weaving and turning..
Where the worm
becomes the thrushes’ song
and the voices of the children
in the apple tree
fill the apples
-fragrant in the loft.

The dancing sunlight
Dreaming dappled light,
Calls into being the eyes..
Part of the dancing
Part of the response
And laughter-
As the worm turns the earth,
The eye turns the landscape
Sharing creation
Spilling it over the land..

Or our desolation dries
The desert- but listen-
The sunrise and the stars
Hold their place.

Our wounds feed the
Earth pain of burning rift
Tornado and sea sky-wave
The groaning earth.

We are the land and the pain
And the song of birds at dawn
Longing to find our place
Again within
Thrumming universe,
Dark skies and blazing stars.