Tracks

There’s no going forward without
a looking back; the past is never
left behind intact or futures ever
crystal clear. A grandiose idea is
one securely anchored in an age
of innocence, supposed a relic
but for those whose forbears
truly walked the ancient track.

Seeking chance denied where
taller structures rose swagmen
strode the narrow ways between
each squatter’s right. Poor but
being free to come and go as it
may please, they chose to stay
and paved a roughshod way to
decency and real democracy.

Bark dongas were lived in alike,
in Nature’s apathetic face we’re
all the same – She regarded us
with godlike disinterest. There
was no Aristocracy made here on
rough tracks walked with swag on
back, often alone and friendless
but never in mortal fear.
© 25 April 2008, I. D. Carswell