Cottongrass
De Peel,
formerly a bastion
of raised bog.
Thick packets of dead plants
and mosses, especially peat moss,
were an infinite source of energy.
Energy transition: from wood to peat.
Peat cutters, flat boats and a network
of waterways provided
affordable fuel for poor
farmers and countryside people.
The peat bogs of the past
coloured purple by the heather
with above them
the white fluffy balls,
swaying always in the wind,
and were countless outlaws:
There was no limit.
Nowadays. Gone is gone!
What remains are puddles,
cart tracks, sand paths,
drowned bogs
and the last old farmhouse,
inhabited by the city elite.
In the window is a jar,
with dried Cottongrass.
Now, a protected plant!
Charlotte de Sureau, 2020
