City and Savanna

Standing here

On the boundary between

The world I know

And the wider realms my eyes have never seen,

My mind is clear,

But my heart betrays a fear of what’s ahead,

Where the grasses overgrow

And the wildness of nature shows instead,

Instead of ordered streets swept swiftly clean

With rows of storied buildings standing near.

Those silhouetted skylines spread

As early rays of dawn appear

And wake the living plains from sleep serene.

The change I undergo

Once every shade of dark has fled

Recalls how cities’ corners overflow,

Encroaching toward savanna’s gentle curving.

This threshold where my sight expands

Creates in me a conscience for conserving

What lands remain beyond our human hands.

 

This is a poem I've been wanting to write since I visited the national park right beside Nairobi and saw the wide savanna spread out in front of the city skyline. It seemed suggestive of living in harmony with nature, but also the possibility of encroaching too far on the wilderness. This poem is about the interface between these two environments, as well as these two ideas.