I See You

It will be 108 degrees this weekend in Seattle, hottest day in recorded history, since the late 1800’s. The Pandemic is still with us, and likely entering new phases of mutation. Still I hear voices raised in human arrogance denying that this world is in trouble. We may never destroy the earth, it’s pretty resilient. But we are on our way to wiping out human life — if we don’t wake the hell wake up!

 

Poet
I see you

you know well
I am a wild heart
I am a free spirit
living wild & free
in sacred balance
with my world — this earth
the earth we all share
we creatures
and you humans

you careless humans

poet
help them see
I am in danger
as are we all
in danger

this fresh pure water
you see me drinking
that replenishes me
replenishes all of us
that we all need to survive
even more that the food we eat

it is rapidly disappearing
as toxins
permeate our earth’s
fragile water systems
if we would lose
only our precious water
earth’s ecosystem will collapse

poet
help them see
the true light
the only way
is this sacred balance

help them hear
the clear voice of truth
help them know
the pure heart of justice
justice for this earth
justice for us all

help them truly want
to reach for
to grasp
to hold close
this sacred balance

for they must

look poet
help them feel
the terrible suffering
this earth is struggling
mightily to endure

help them learn how to see
with their own eyes
as I see with mine
wandering this planet daily

help them to see
that they are the cause
and they are the solution
if they will open
their eyes
their hearts
their minds

poet

you see many things
but you oft talk in riddles
you avoid the cold
and the hard way
favoring the soft path
of platitudes
and metaphors
of meter and rhyme

but this is not
this is not that time

poet
look into these eyes
my eyes
that weep
for our foolish devastation

you must become
the wild heart I am

you poet
must look into the fire
of our burning earth
feel it burn your eyes
char your soul

then
poet
tell them how that feels

help them hear me
hear my wolf’s song
as I keen and howl
for my dying world

let them hear you scream
of the injustice
of the real danger
the imminent danger

rally them
set them ablaze
with the passion to
seek and secure
the sacred balance
to hold it close
become its protector

lift your pen
poet
like a sword
and strike down
this imbalance
this human stupidity

show them the way poet
I believe
with all the wildness
of my heart
with all the strength
of my free spirit
they will join the battle
they must

but you must tell them
poet
tell them what is real

tell them in the power
that is plain language

tell them my earth
is dying

tell them our earth
truly is dying
their arrogance
is killing it

tell them now
poet
tell them true
poet
they will listen

they must listen
now

*
rob kistner © 2021

Poetry at: The Sunday Muse

Poetry Pantry at: Poets & Storytellers

Poetry Inspired by Ecological Change: Earthweal

 

Hear me cry for our dying earth: