Let Me Return

From stilted quick speech confined to city,

voices colliding  in too close a dance,

to the friendly coo-ee of vibrant countryside,

deep echo resounding  through wide open expanse.

From frozen detached brick and phlegmatic concrete

with surreal hum that starves the soul,

to vibrant murals of ever-changing landscapes

as seasons give birth to their respective goals.

From dried odours of thousands of compacted bodies

swept on swift feet in one-visioned rush,

to intense scents, bouquets, ambrosia

of multispectral trees and wildflowers of the bush.

From cold sinuous rays of streaky skulking yellow

creeping through dark and cluttered streets,

to fire slowly spreading, then the ignition spark

as Apollo explodes above indigo peaks.

From few, constrained, faint, twinkling speckles

struggling for notice in neon-lit sky,

to a crowd of sparkling diamonds and gems set

in a giant jewelled serpent snaking over high.

From sameness and crowding and dim light so false,

dawdling, drowning, in fast urban growth,

take me out to the sun-browned country,

let me return to the beauty of the world of my youth.