A photographer's ode

As I travel this road across the barren lands Hard yellow grass, dead and dry Patches of brown sand I stop to absorb my surroundings Black stubble scattered around The tell-tale signs of a fire That raped the land of its life A forgotten plain Outshined by more desirable coastal resorts And mountain heavens A bird of paradise Floats through the air Its long tail feathers Weighing it down Providing a single speck of beauty To nature’s graveyard I capture the picture Will anyone understand its significance? A man stands in the distance His face is stern And body firm In an unwelcoming stance He wears the sorrow of dead crop That dance at his feet The pain of lost livelihood His eyes shout harsh words As dry as the grass As cracked as the sand As hot as the fire That killed the earth He guards his territory As if trying to convince himself It might hold something of value That I would want to take from it I capture the picture Will anyone understand its significance? As I travel this road through a ghost town Smoke drifts from chimneys Of Old Dutch style houses I pass some people On a dusty street corner Their glares tell me I’m intruding A community locked in past Holding on to abandoned ideals Their hearts fly an orange flag As the wind picks up the dust I see the ghosts of my forefathers Who’s suffered souls won’t rest I continue on my way More grateful for liberation I stop one last time Looking back on the town I capture the picture Will anyone understand its significance? Note: This is basically how i think - i am forever capturing pictures in my mind (think i should try my hand at photography).I also often wonder, when at photo/art galleries, if what we see in the picture is what the photographer wanted us to see. I recently had the chance to see some of Mpumalanga (small mining/farming towns) - very dry and deserted part of the country. It struck me that these parts are mostly unheard of and will never make the travel/tourism brochures. But even so, the land just had so many stories to tell.These are some of the stories i saw in it's essence.