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Thursday 26 January 2012

Breaking and Entering

What are the summer pansies doing
surviving the new year,
summer and winter blooming side by side?
the magnolia in budding
long before the spring?
And even the grape hyacinth
unwraps itself
and challenges the elements
in a show of sheer bravado, as the whole
of nature now breaks out
of what has always been
its given sequence. Dismantling
the old created order, following
the lead of man - who might perhaps
have nudged it this way by a notch or two -
it seems the perfect stranger. In a moment
we see meaning breaking loose from
a small rose that lost its bearings,
as the sun might break from a dark cloud.


We have entered here into
some sort of dark conspiracy
with what we see before us. Rose,
pansies, hyacinth and even
the magnolia are founder members, maybe,
of a wholly new and startling sequence
which in due course will be broken in its turn.
We may be entering an inexplicable,
unheralded and unfamiliar circle
that nature will sculpt into some new shape.
Yet still they prophesy, those
merchants of great doom,
as though the old is still the valid form.


It is the will of man that breaks beneath the strain.
What is dead is broken down,
has entered earth for its reviving.
What is dying
is breaking down to enter in.
What is revived is flying.
Time is flying, but the time is not quite yet.


Mankind has left the circle. Broken from
the evening of existence, entered in
a second childhood. See, his toys
are more sophisticated this time round.
He leaves them everywhere.
The roses, pansies, the magnolia and the hyacinth
are warnings in the snow.
They say the circle, broken out from,
still exists to take its toll.


The earth is waiting. Still from earth
only the plants and tiny creatures break.
Man can but enter to be satisfied.

10 comments:

Cloudia said...

can but enter. . .


Warm Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral

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Williamz JungleJuice said...

Greetings Pics and Poems,
somewhere in my reading of your poem I sensed the concept of environmentalism and humanity's disrespect for the inevitable consequence of its childishness. From the personal to the global, Nature prevails. Thanx for sharing.
WJJ

kaykuala said...

The flowers are there for a purpose. Man comes in between and messed with the ecological balance. It just isn't fair!

Hank

Mary said...

This one I am a bit confused about. Initially I thought it was about a VERY early spring (we've had mild weather here, which is why that crossed my mind); but as I read on I realized it was what humans have done to plants. But I guess I am not sure what harm was caused. I will come back at some point and check.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Another powerful work, the final lines breathtaking. I want to read and reread this.
And it's also a challenge for me to be able to absorb poems so intense every day...the "circle" taking its toll gives a feeling that digs in.

Windsmoke. said...

Very enjoyable especially the last line because man's greed won't be satisfied until everything on this planet has been ravaged :-).

Ygraine said...

Why does man (with his supposedly advanced brain) insist on using it's superior power to mess up the evolution of every other creature on Earth - and even Earth herself?
Surely he should have learned to cooperate by now!
I suppose we can only hope man will enter soon!
I sense a spirituality fighting to escape here....

Mary said...

Returned, hoping for an explanation. Not yet.

haricot said...

When I hear conspiracy by some who have extreme ideas I feel uncomfortable, while the one by the buds of flowers is pleasant!

Dave King said...

Cloudia
Always welcome. Thank you.

Williamz
Hi and a warm welcome to my blog. Thank you for commenting.
humanity's disrespect for the inevitable consequence of its childishness - beautifully put. That is exactly it.

Hank
Precisely!

Mary
In the garden is just the confusion that maybe you are experiencing with the poem, but I also see that microcosmic confusion as a metaphor for the wider and more serious implications of climate change.

Tommaso
Thanks for this. I am pleased that the final lines made their mark. I did think they might be overlooked.

Windsmoke
Probably very true. As above I am gratified that the final line meant something to you. Thank you.

Ygraine
Thanks, yes, I think it is a spirituality fighting to escape as nature is fighting to escape the clumsiness of man's world.

Mary
Sorry. The one above is the best I can give - I think!

haricot
Thanks. This comment I like very much.