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--chosen-work--
Four Chimneys
I know where we are- we are at four chimneys
yes but this was once the water meadows
when the shoaling Don held up the
vessels plying from the coast
what she saw was that four chimneys
black and then the sky less dark
what she did not see was
swifts that wheeled with martins
in the troubled sky swallows
in spirals over willow trees
What she could not see was flags
that cracked and factory smoke
in rising breeze
Often she would say
What she never saw was ever changing
landscape in the clouds
the mystery of a million awesome stars
at fall of night
What she never knew or never said
was how we came to be the way we were
or by what judgement some were blessed
and some denied
What she knew was for a moment dark was light
we were at four chimneys