Up the Downs

In England, what is up is Down
--land that is, hills of chalk that
snake across the South and West in
great green cumuli come to ground,
quintillions of cretaceous creatures
compressed and billowed
in a deep blanket over
dark dinosaur bones,
ripples of the great crash of
Africa into Europe,
aftershocks of Alps and Apennines but
big to us and sacred,
enfolding first temples,
holy hills and megaliths,
dead monuments to those
who live here still
like me, driving through winter gale
with leaves aping absent birds,
driven rain leeching through dead mouths
to the distant Channel.