Man and Nature: A Meditation
On sunny days in Autumn
we go out, if we can,
to praise the ways of Nature
and meditate on Man.
The hedge is flushed with berries
and only just beyond
a supermarket trolley
is rusting in the pond.
The light is almost perfect.
It glints, as children pass,
on what was once a bottle
and now a pile of glass.
How gold the leaves – a glory!
We almost fail to see
a little bag of dog crap
hanging from a tree.
At last just near the viewpoint
a welcome seat awaits.
We move the empty chip bags
and polystyrene plates
and holding hands we sit there.
We watch the empty sky
with vapour trails like warnings.
We scuff our heels. We sigh.
Helena Nelson