“The Okefenokee”

Photo by Angela Mapes Turner

Okefenokee! “Land of Trembling Earth,”
Your mirror lakes reflect the stars that gleam.
You are a mystic land devoid of mirth,
More beautiful than any poet’s dream.

A world within a world…so strange and rare
With cypress trees festooned with Spanish moss,
A place where God and poet both can share
The beauty of these trees that sway and toss.

This is the homeland of the Seminoles
Where thickened clouds of foliage hide the sun
From mirror pools and stagnant water holes
Where isolated rivers slowly run.

Where floating islands drift across the bay,
And bird-song echoes through the swampland gloom.
Where cottonmouths and water turkeys stay
Among the live oaks where strange flowers bloom.

All day the alligators seem to sleep
At night is when the stealthy bobcat prowl,
And when the winds of night begin to weep
One hears the forlorn chorus of the owls.

My heart is filled with vivid memories
Of Nature’s rarest beauty that I found
While visiting this land of mysteries,
Okefenokeel…land of trembling ground.

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