The Picnic
The dark cool shady forest kept
It's secret over the centuries
The dark black belt it rests above
Has been safely assured life until now
The later rock is here to move all
And a courting couple tread a mile higher
The place will be witness.
They carry a picnic basket full
A gentle hand lifts the freshly sealed
In eagerness to share all the package
The rest looks down wondering
The carpet is spread with pine cones
There is no air nor time today
The nearby lake is listening.
At the right moment the feast begins
The wine and food flow like close streams
A sorry landscape chatters and remarks
Of the young girl's beauty and gentleness
The wind blows the wind to stir the branches
The timeless romances have been seen over the ages.
Clouds unwillingly climb into the afternoon sky
An evening is waiting yet again
Not wanting to go home, the couple talk
Of the forest, of the lake, of the sounds
This moment is their own or so is felt
The coal deep beneath them is sleeping.
Smell the fresh wood my dear
We'll never be content unless
Our lives are spent close to this
Close to the warming stirring country air
Or the night will come too soon my dear
And our shepherd may take us away.
The forest had heard the talk many times
And said a gentle good-bye or the deep-rooted trees
The coal will see the next play and the next
When a different couple walk its roof
It is then that all the parts of the earth
Watch and talk together of the moving things.
20th April 1982
Haiku
the dark cool shady --
it's secret over the dark
has been safely life
By Mark Anthony
I wrote this poem wondering about what was the earth doing below our feet.
I thought about the earth as watching us as we came and went throughout the centuries.
It is specifically centred around two lovers going for a picnic in a shady forest.
The poem describes the deep black belts of coal below them rich for the day, but not wanted these times though.
The couple want to be one with nature but know that time is not on their side
It ends by telling us that all parts of the earth matter, clouds, soil, sea and life all being dependent and not to be mastered by any one or thing.
