All men. Or shall we say,
not chauvinistic, all
people, it is all
people? Beasts manure
the ground, nibble to
promote growth; but man,
the consumer, swallows
like the god of mythology
his own kind. Beasts walk
among birds and never
do the birds scare; but the human,
that alienating shadow
with the Bible under the one
arm and under the other
the bomb, as often
drawn as he is repelled
by the stranger waiting for him
in the mirror – how
can he return home
when his gaze forages
beyond the stars? Pity him,
then, this winged god, rupturer
of gravity's control
accelerating on and
outward in the afterglow
of a receding laughter?
by R. S. Thomas
from No Truce With The Furies (1995)
Tag: nature
The Water-Diviner by Gillian Clarke
His fingers tell water like prayer.
He hears its voice in the silence
through fifty feet of rock
on an afternoon dumb with drought.
Under an old tin bath, a stone,
an upturned can, his copper pipe
glints with discovery. We dip our hose
deep into the dark, sucking its dryness,
till suddenly the water answers,
not the little sound we know,
but a thorough bass too deep
for the naked ear, shouts through the hose
a word we could not say, or spell, or remember,
something like “dŵr... dŵr.”
by Gillian Clarke
from Letter from a Far Country (1982)
Dŵr means 'water' in the Welsh language.
‘There Once Was A Mechanic…’ by Daniil Kharms
There once was a mechanic who decided to take turns at work standing on one leg and then on the other in order not to tire.
But no good came of this: he started getting even more tired than before and his work wasn’t coming together the way it used to.
The mechanic was called into the office where he was reprimanded and given a warning.
But the mechanic decided to overcome his nature and continued to stand on one leg while on the job.
The mechanic fought against his nature a long time and, finally, sensing a pain in his spine that grew with every day, he was forced to seek medical attention.
by Даниил Иванович Хармс (Daniil Ivanovich Kharms)
a.k.a. Даниил Иванович Ювачёв (Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachov)
(27 August 1936)
from Events
translated by Matvei Yankelevich
‘All all the trees go piff’ by Daniil Kharms
All all the trees go piff
all all the rocks go paff
all all of nature poof.
All all the girls go piff
all all the guys go paff
all all the marriage poof.
All all the slavs go piff
all all the jews go paff
all all of Russia poof.
by Даниил Иванович Хармс (Daniil Ivanovich Kharms)
a.k.a. Даниил Иванович Ювачёв (Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachov)
(early October 1929)
translated by Matvei Yankelevich
Tawny Owl by Gillian Clarke
Plain song of owl
moonlight between cruciform
shadows of hunting.
She sings again
closer
in the sycamore,
her coming quieter
than the wash
behind the wave,
her absence darker
than privacy
in the leaves’ tabernacle.
Compline. Vigil.
Stations of the dark.
A flame floats on oil
in her amber eye.
Shoulderless shadow
nightwatching.
Kyrie. Kyrie.
by Gillian Clarke
from New Poems
Rambling At The Bridge Head 
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