For the NaPoWriMo prompt, looking at a meadow not with the eyes of a developer.
Meadow
bounded by hedge and stream
and tall trees swaying
not grass, not much,
but flowers
buttercup dandelion vetch flax bugle salsify and orchids.
So many orchids.
Pasture never worked
never ploughed
a piece of ancient farmland
untouched except by hoof,
and the swift pads of hare and fox.
Rodent-burrowed and fissured by contraction
into tiny tectonic plates
running with water
seeping hollows full of marsh plants.
History treads here
silent as nightfolk
holding its breath
for the future is coming.
The future sees building plot
house in breeze blocks and pvc
swimming pool and shaved lawn.
Does anyone care
if the nightingales will still sing
in Monsanto-perfumed air?
Jane Dougherty Writes 
😦 😦 😦 😦
So many meadows built upon. I hope this one stays a meadow.
So do I. In theory it’s protected from building projects, but as pressure for homes increases, who knows what will happen to it once we’ve gone.
Oh yes, so true. Think in a few years all land without building will get solar plants. 😉 Horrible to think on this. Michael
I suppose we’ll save ourselves in extremis but what’s left to be saved maybe won’t be worth it.
I fully agree, Jane! After we lost it, we remember how important it was. Human beeing?
Human stupidity.
Yes, indeed, but most times politican stupidity too. ;-(
I suppose they are technically human beings 🙂
🙂
Oh this is beautiful. It sets a perfect vision of this beautiful meadow, and what’s lost, and the carelessness with which it’s regarded. And I know the feeling well–just last week my husband and I were strolling through a nearby park that already had markers set for an upcoming construction project, a whole new development in the works that would take up all the land currently occupied by trees and flowers and wildlife.
We bought a farmhouse with about five acres of land a couple of years ago that was already here when the first maps of the area were made in the eighteenth century. The land has never been used for anything but pasture land and for the last forty years, it hasn’t been used for anything but hay. It has never had any chemical product used on it and is a mass of wild flowers and orchids. In theory it isn’t building land, but we know the neighbours who have bought a corner of farmland next to ours are hoping the classification will change so they can build on it. It’s so depressing what they want to do, like the house they already have, all pvc and plastic and the kind of garden where a weed dare not show its face.
That is sad. It’s some reassurance to know it isn’t currently building land, and hopefully that won’t change. It would be such a waste of beautiful land. I’m sure some people would say to have land sit there and not be built on is a waste, but untouched land is such a treasure and it’s getting rarer.
It’s history in the same way as a building is. Agriculture has changed so much, the corners that haven’t had fertilizer and pesticides poured on them ever should be left alone.
Money is truly the root of all evil. (K)
Money plus bad taste…
The future is coming indeed. You’ve painted such a stark, poignant image, Jane! So many turns of vivid phrase! Sadly it’s only too true – here, we’ve recently had a massive court case involving developers who want to build on a park reserve in the city. It is still ongoing, and the outcome…isn’t looking very good. Greed – that’s the root of all of it, greed and money go hand in hand unfortunately when it comes to development, a lot of times!
I decided, screw it, I will catch up on the truant 3 days of poems as I go, and jumped right into today’s Day 17. Fair warning, it’s pretty morbid…
https://shukuen.blogspot.com/2019/04/glopowrimo-day-17-bones-speak.html
Property developers are slippery customers. If they wanted to build to house the people who need homes it would be understandable, but usually it’s to build luxury apartments for people who don’t need them.
I like your honest bones. My kind of poem.
I don’t think people remember bird song. ~
Silent Spring. Premonitory.