new development

Look past the beautiful mountain from the doorway.

Look toward the New Development.

You can not see it from the doorway --

Long to go there.

You want to see a living place sheltered by walls and gates.

One day,  drive through the New Development.

Be shocked by its emptiness,

its high walls with new streets far beneath,

barren, utterly new, no grass yet,

and everything shades of the same red brown,

even the houses and the roofs of the houses.

Who lives here?

One open garage, one lit living room,

and on a TV, the Sicilian volcano --

scary fertile hot lava beds look more hospitable than the pitiful future gardens

of the New Development.

Drive home (it's so close).

Look past the beautiful mountain, scarred by the New Development.

Look toward the walls and gates that you can not see.

It seemed like another planet, didn't it,

unearthly, ugly, and unnatural.

You will long to go there again.

by H.A. Krein