The earth is beautiful
The earth is terrible.
But we know that
Don’t we?
She can crack and quake.
Seismic waves come
From deep inside her.
But we know that
Don’t we?
When we drill into her.
We change her shape
But we know that
Don’t we?
She likes trees.
Their colours suit her
Her man, the sun fancies her
In green and blue
But we know that
Don’t we?
She’s not crazy about us right now.
We’re hurting her;
Forgetting the colours that suit her.
But we know that
Don’t we?
She dances with the sun.
It’s a complicated dance
Sometimes hot, sometimes cold
But we know that don’t we?
He will change her but they’ll go on
And on, with, our without us
But we know that don’t we?
Painting by Kathy Tynan
I love this poem and the painting. Thank you for sharing it, I felt the earth turning with each repetition of those lines, you captured sorrow and peace in a still.
We must know that, somehow, that our actions are damaging the earth permanently, but there is a disconnect between that and acting, implementing, restoring, preventing. I wonder how long she can sustain us.
Thank you for your response to my poem and to my daughter’s painting. You are right about the disconnect and I think it is because our lives are so caught up in the destruction of mother earth that even when we want to do something it seems impossible. Every cup of coffee we take away, every bottle of water. I do wonder too if we are too late. But the writing helps hey?
Your daughter is very talented! (I have some of my daughter’s artwork on my site too!)
We must do all we can to preserve the Earth and leave it better for the future, even writing! A better future has to be imagined first.