The Land
Do you remember?
Do you listen and wait?
for the singing
long since
silenced.
Do you listen and wait?
for the feet that
molded
secret trails.
Do you
need the stories the people told
to fix this place under the sky?
Even the stars have lost the names
the people gave.
Do the trees remember?
Does the wind remember
and worry the leaves
shake the branches
searching for
the lost children?
Do the spirits linger?
Does the land embrace them?
Do the trees watch over them still?
Does the wind still whisper their stories
to the stars?
Do you remember?
photos and writing copyright J.A. Siderius 2013
siderius blog 
What a terrific site you have, Joanne!
I’ve only barely touched the surface of it, but I love your owl shots!
Having said that, I particularly like your poetry (Dale said I would have to tell you that, all on my own!). Dare I recommend you consider establishing a category for poetry???…that would make it more accessible!
On another note, I don’t know your photographic techniques nor post-processing proclivities; but if you shoot in RAW, and use either PS, LR, or Elements and don’t already own the NIK Software suite, I’d highly recommend you check NIK out. The last I looked they were letting people get the whole suite for about $149 US (quite a discount from what I was able to buy it for last summer!), and it sure makes selections and whole array of global and specific (through control points) adjustments quick and easy for the computer/software illiterate such as myself!
– dave
Thanks Dave – establishing a category for poetry makes sense – I am glad you enjoy what I wrote. Poetry writing comes in spurts for me and takes quite a bit of editing before I feel it is finished (if ever!). And it has been on my list to explore using a photo package. I have Light Room and really just need to sit down and play around with it. I love your site, by the way, and was enjoying looking at some of the incredible photos you have on there.
Joanne