Layering

We apply words
From the urban Code Napoleon:
We say Arbutus, outcrop and pit,
Swale and berm, clay Cistus and mantis.
But the changing land resists our labels;
A slope slips like a slow treacle,
Frost passes unhindered to the next hollow,
A shadow lengthens without a jump but
It never straightens,
And in summer the skeleton
Of itself, prepares green rosettes
From the earth's hidden roots.