above broad river

[fledgist]

 across the gully is another place

a different world with silver roughbarked trees

where stubborn beasts resist you on their knees

while walls and fences leave a proper trace

for those bewildered nature shows her face

in complicated motions that each sees

in the raw colours and the harsh decrees

that come upon us with the morning's grace

so this is recollection of the sight

from high above broad river as the grey

of false dawn marks the ending of the night

but here and now the moment cannot stay

we've paid hard cash for all that we have lost

and got no credit for the hills we've crossed