Lost Poem by Deanna Samuels

Lost
Lost in a quagmire of new developments
Long time familiar country fields and meadows
So recently bordering along quiet grass lined lanes
And could still be said to be in the middle of nowhere
Alas gone!
Disappeared so quickly, buried beneath a thick layer of new concrete
In every direction the eye falls on
A mushroomed cemented jungle has appeared
Recently named streets, ways and avenues
Host rows of characterless sameness, two, three or four storeys high
A maze of brand new addresses created in so short a time
Panic - almost!
Suddenly lost, deep within the bowels of this recently built city
For a city it is
Not one or two or even twenty streets
But dozens upon dozens on an unknown map
No familiar landmarks to set the way straight
Sheer luck, perhaps, a main road is found
Though that may have only recently been paved with no directions to guide
New towns planned to be complete within themselves
The developer's bane to use their precious land
Legislation provision for schools, malls and community places
Buildings springing up relentlessly across the land
Eating up the once abundant food producing farmland
Outstandingly beautiful, undulating countryside, leveled beyond recognition
Wildlife displaced without due thought or mercy
Their dens, lairs, holes and burrows, bulldozed into oblivion
New residents wonder
Why?
Why their overfilled bins are pried open by cleverly manipulating raccoons
With discarded scraps readily eaten by hungry foxes and other displaced creatures
That is the new way of everyday life
In these soulless non-descript new residences of today
But wait!
Hope
A decade would pass, these new estates will have seasoned
Maybe taken on local character
Newly planted spindly saplings then grown into sturdy trees
Lawns and gardens matured, filled with blossoms
Houses gently weathered, that newness faded
Appearing to have been erected there for many a year
Becoming integral
Becoming another suburb lost within the whole growing greater city conurbation

Memories though
Memories in those passing years, one will miss the countryside of old
Those long meandering leafy shady lanes
The rich green lush meadows where once herds and sheep grazed
Vegetable crops and yellow cornfields with sweet succulent cobs
The olde worlde farmhouses with white picket fences
All long gone
Lost
Lost forever
Lost under girders, rebar and jungles of brick and mortar


Written at Richmond Hill and Courtice, Ontario - 9th February 2018