The Fens

Man–land: engineer–man land;
slide–ruled from dyke to ditch,
from railroad to horizon;
spirit–levelled, so that you see
the whole circumference
and know the earth is round.

Man–land — and yet un–manned:
only one lonely tractor,
distance–robbed of movement:
pylons in single file
like marching robots: poplars
trivial as feathers.

Utility–man land:
the colours few and stern,
dark chocolate, profitable earth;
dark cabbage green: a land
long schooled from wildness
and from waste.

Yet here and there a rebel!
A swan–pool, breaking rules:
blackthorn, belatedly
in bridal white:
and over all a wilful sky
insisting upon pleasure.