I remember rivers in my roots,
the Old Tree groaned, and how I drank and grew.
I remember birds at rest, the way
they sang dusk down, and slept the long night through.
I remember reaching for the dawn
as clouds of birds took flight across the sun,
reveling in their freedom, knowing they
would soon return, sure as the day was done.
I and my brothers held the desert back
three hundred years and more, and life was sweet,
until the river changed her course, and sand
flowed in the water's place, and waves of heat
stole all my life and left me gaunt and spare,
etched against dunes, a ghost in desert air.
What's a "vlei", Lesley? And no, that's not your poem LOL. That's my sound of admiration. I'm trying to build a knowledge base to work with here. What's the STORY? The deserts's encroaching on these trees? Or it's moved past them and they are unearthed after a long time of being buried?
Dead Vlei is an old pan which has not had regular water since the river changed its course. Now it just has the skeletons of old acacias here, some of them well over 500 years old.
What's a "vlei", Lesley? And no, that's not your poem LOL. That's my sound of admiration. I'm trying to build a knowledge base to work with here. What's the STORY? The deserts's encroaching on these trees? Or it's moved past them and they are unearthed after a long time of being buried?
Can't tell if that is sky or a huge sand dune in the distance, but no matter, done these kind before and love the feeling of scale!
And an outtake? Can I pull my entry out now?
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
