Earth’s Lament

Amidst all the climate hullabaloo flying around during this election time, 

Amidst all the promises waiting to be broken, 

Amidst all the apocalyptic prophisizing contrasted by all the denying,

Amidst all the bright answers,

Amidst all the individual and corporate greed, 

Amidst all the hope and all the despair and everything in between - 

Here’s an old poem of mine. If I looked back in my blog I’d likely find it there. I wrote it while looking out at a Parking Lot Sea, while waiting for my husband to reappear from shopping for something or other. It has been somewhat modified from the original...

Earth’s Lament

I am the earth and I need to breathe,

Feel the wind through my grasses and the leaves of my trees,

Wake fresh in the morning with dew on my chest,

Wrinkle, roll and stretch from the east to the west, 

Bathe in the rain and bask in the sun,

Shine in the moonlight when my workday is done.

I am the earth and I must see the sky,

Deprive me of this, I’ll get sick, I could die!

You paint me in black with asphalt on roads,

Reshape my body for diamonds and gold,

Draw fluid up from the depths of my bowels,

Dump sewage in water making it foul,

You harvest my lungs, pollute all my veins,

Smoke fills my air, acidifies my rain.

You’ve put me in danger, I cannot forgive,

For I am the earth and I want to live!

I am the earth, please let me breathe,

Feel the wind through my grasses and the leaves of my trees,

Wake fresh in the morning with dew on my chest,

Wrinkle, roll and stretch from the east to the west, 

Bathe in the rain and bask in the sun,

Shine in the moonlight when my workday is done.

I am the earth, you live in my home,

Treat me with kindness, I won’t die alone.