Fairy Circles

After the rain
across the Namib,
thousands of circles
break through the grass.
Bare in the centre,
green at the edge.
One after another,
stretching ahead.

No footprints.
No lines in the sand.
Nothing to show
they were made by a hand.

Fairy circles
cover the ground.
Perfect and empty,
mile after mile.
Some disappear.
Some start again.
Nobody draws them.
Still, they remain.

Years in one place,
then nothing is there.
Grass takes the ground
that used to be bare.
Further away,
another one grows.
How many are coming?
Nobody knows.

Seen from above,
the pattern is clear.
Circle by circle,
year after year.
No hidden message.
No story to tell.
Just something the desert
does by itself.

Fairy circles
cover the ground.
Perfect and empty,
mile after mile.
Some disappear.
Some start again.
No one can see
where the pattern will end.

After the rain,
under open sky,
one circle disappears.
Another arrives.