A Florida Savannah The ridge of ancient oaks and pines, reflects in a mirror of water. The Great Alachua Savannah so named, by an early explorer. Described as a wet prairie basin, of which Bartram grew so fond. Quite a diverse community slopes upward - from this swampy pond. Back in seventeen ninety-one Coleridge read, of this idyllic spot. Indebted he dreamed of founding a place, for all poets and such. When Emerson spoke of Bartram's find in a letter, to his friend Carlyle; He said the volume of notes reported, "were a treat of an eloquent style"! Numbers of wildlife still abound, cranes, eagles and waterfowl; Storks stand near the gator pond, hawks share trees with sleepy owls. You may see otters out playing, or rearranging their dams. Upland gophers trudge through sandhills for blossoms, of prickly plants. Pinewoods shelter, the white-tailed deer from the heat, of the Florida sun. While some snakes, mice and vertebrates keep cool, in holes underground. It was Wordsworth who said, of Bartram's world, "she was a phantom of delight"! I have to agree - and to this day, that Prairie called Paynes still excites ... Joy A. Burki-Watson |
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