They came, despite
Flying things and crawling things and
Swimming things and slithering things and
Stinging things and stalking things.
They came, despite storms that lasted for miles,
Leaving great floods in their wake and
Islands that were not islands
Amid grassy oceanic plains
Connected by waterways like some colossal neuronal network.
They came, with heaving machines and expectations.
They came, with heat so hot.
They came, and cut the earth with railroad ties
And later sutured the cuts with blacktop running east
To west, length
To length.
They dug ditches, east
To west, length
To length.
They came, and filled these ditches with water,
Sparkling in the heat so hot
As if a field of diamonds.
They came, and put up fences to keep the people out
Of the ditches sparkling with diamonds and eyes.
They came, and came, and came.
They came, and made land out of water,
And spilled rivers into seas,
Until the seas threatened to make water out of land.
And the flying things and crawling things and
Swimming things and slithering things and
Stinging things and stalking things
Crouched and cowed
On bended cypress knees.
caroline ridgway 