Familiar hills
the horizon half-remembered
my folk grew
and grew old
died here
Yet I’ve never stood here before I know
the curves of the land drawn in me
How do I know this place?
My mind some structured facsimile for geography?
A genetic memory for place?
For time?
I cannot explain but I know
that my soul has been here before
I am fascinated by the notion of genetic memory … that a landscape or place experienced over generations may leave some kind of imprint in the descendants of those generations. A line of hills, a mountain, a river … these things change over time I know but their basic forms can remain constant on a scale far larger than the people living on them. I don’t believe anyone has found any evidence such a phenomena may exist but that’s not about to stop me pondering on it.
What about you? have you ever been to a place or landscape that seemed so familiar to you only to find out later that you ancestors had been there? Thought that they would practically be looking at what you’re seeing now.
This makes TOTAL sense to me, Geoff. TOTAL. In fact, when I first visited Europe, I knew I had been there before. And now that I live in the Netherlands, I often feel I lived here in a past life. I love how you have written this. Thank you!
Thanks Ginnie … that sense of memory of ahving experieinced something you know rationally you have not experienced fills me with a sense of wonder.
Wow… love this photo! The texture is really beautiful, too. I did not know you were also a poet!! I love the poem you wrote… it's true that sometimes we visit a place and there is that "guts feeling" that we have been there before… it's rare and it's really special when it happens. I love walking in the woods and listening to the sounds of nature, specially when it's an old forest… I keep thinking that our ancestors walked in these woods and saw the same trees, just younger… 🙂 It's quite a nice feeling.
Thanks Isabelle. I’ve begun to write little prose pieces to accompany my photographs as a way of somehow further expressing what I felt when I created it. I feel that sense that our ancestors walked here … saw these hills … those shapes.