we came in small boats
with sows goats sheep
for we are farmers
our knowledge is of animals
and seasons
we watch the cycles
summer to winter
watch the growth
spring to autumn
life to death
when our animals die
their bones are left
in open air it brings
more scavengers
more birds
when we die
birds tear tissue from bone
but the spirit remains
until it is returned
to the womb of the earth
seven thousand years
my spirit still dwells here
with seven thousand souls
a temple carved in soil
helical ceiling of stone
on the walls ochre spirals
statuettes among the skeletons
my figure lying
head upon hand
body at rest
they visit and sing the songs
taught them so long ago
they bring gifts of limestone and clay
if only they knew how small we are
our bones only half the story
hypogeum (pl. hypogea): Greek: hypo: under; gaia: earth, earth goddess
The only known prehistoric underground temple in the world is found on Malta at Hal-
Saflieni.
NOTES
In 2013, I visited Malta. I had known about the Hypogeum for several decades and was very
keen to visit. The Hypogeum is roughly 7,000 years old. In a diary entry I made at the time, I wrote:
We old ones lived with the land; we did not merely pass over it. They call our temples
magnificent; they declare or calendars crude; they doubt that we women made the plans;
that our bodies are the model of these structures; few see the mother–daughter designs;
they deny us as so many generations have.
When I visited, it was not permissible to take photos. The image with this poem is a model
of the underground temple and while it conveys nothing of the feeling of the place, it does
give a sense of the structure and its rounded forms. In my poem, I try to give a sense of the
feel of the place.
You can read other poems about Malta in my book Lupa and Lamb.