Mirror Poem about Civilisation and Wilderness

Marc Latham was writing up his return to civilisation from Bergen’s Mount Ulriken on the travel25years.wordpress.com blog when it reminded him of a Folding Mirror poem he’d written previously but not published. So he thought this was an ideal time to publish the poem and have a simultaneous blogcast.

The Joys of Leaving and Returning 

It is also timely as a contrasting partner to the previous poem published on this site. That poem had a being independent with nature theme, while this one has a joys of returning to humanity theme.

Neither emotion and experience is independent of each other, and Marc hasn’t decided to opt for one or the other before or since writing them, or moved in preference for one or the other. Ideally, he’d like to spend six months in the wild and six months writing it up.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

To Marc and many humans they are two sides of the same coin; fitting in with the folding mirror theme of this site, and the greenygrey theme of Marc’s main site. Some people don’t want to live much with humanity; some can’t live without humanity; but most balance times of independence and company pretty evenly. Sometimes it’s nice to escape human civilisaton, and sometimes it’s nice to return.

As well as telling of the joys of returning to humanity the poem also mirrors the city with nature in the two halves.

Lights of Life, Homes to Humanity

waterfalls, willows, wheels
fireworks outshine city neon
enlightened valley
signs of humanity
on New Year’s Eve
through canyons weave
weary travellers emerge tunnel
poured from natural funnel

enjoyed time’s contemplation, downhill to destination

memories of my species
hive aura buzz oozes
entering concrete civilisation
time of peak imagination
dogs of wolves
wildcat shadows
skyscrapers mirror mountain memories
avenues, alleys, abodes

Blog about return from Mount Ulriken, Bergen, Norway.

Marc Latham’s central site is the Greenygrey (http://www.greenygrey.co.uk), and he has books available on Smashwords and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/author/marclatham).