An Ode To the Lands I Call Home

Sitting here at my desk Two hundred meters above I watch the bustle of life below. The slow moving traffic, the crowd at lunch-time Pedestrians at the traffic lights Heavy blue-black glass blocks towering to the skies. In this austere concrete jungle. A few patches of green in-between asphalt ones A blue gum tree here and an ashen eucalyptus there At the corner of the street. My thoughts flee from this stifling claustrophobia Thousands of miles away. To the sugar sands where once we walked In the warmth of an ever-summer sun. Blue-green waves tumbling with unrestrained energy Shores framed by coconut palms dense green Stretching in an unbroken line to the horizon. Cries of the seagulls mingle With the deafening roar of the waves. The shells were still white-foam laced When we picked them from the wet sand. Salty breeze carrying our laughter away As we watched the fishing canoes come in Riding on the waves. Remember when we walked through Golden paddy fields of ripening grain. To sit under the ancient banyan tree by the river Watching the canoes slide past Carrying coir and spices from villages afar. Trekking up mountain-paths And down lush tea slopes. We gathered wild jasmines and gooseberries And sat by gurgling streams listening To the cow herd's flute in the distance. Returning at the peep of stars We stood by the gate Under the deep blue velvet folds of the sky Listening to the rhythmic clanging of heavy chains As the local saw mill elephant Passes on her way back from the woods. The air is heavy with the scent of gardenias Only the chirping of crickets, the hum of mosquitoes And the gentle brushing of palm leaves Breaking the cool stillness of the night. And, I return to the vast plains of this southern land. Breezes that blow unchecked From coast to coast Over blue mountain ranges And great red monoliths And the sun at its mightiest here. Unique life forms, sweet smelling gum trees, Picturesque shores that line the coasts. Countryside stretching to the horizon In the flattest continent of the world. Special this land in every way Its beauty and curiousness of life. The land I have come to love The place I now call home.