Broken Promises

Broken Promises

There’s an agreement, though we’re oft unaware,
between nature and man for each others care.
It is from her nurture that we grow and thrive,
In her bounteous beauty, she keeps us alive.

For far too long, we’ve turned our back
and pretended that we would never lack
the things that we needed. We didn’t learn
we had to pay what we owed in return.

We accept what once was unthinkable
and now our water’s barely drinkable.
We continue to pollute once fresh air
and yet we think that nature doesn’t care.

You see everyday on news and TV
another of nature’s catastrophes.
A monsoon in Burma tears at the shores,
food riots among the African poor.

Glaciers melting at an alarming rate
while deserts expand. It is beyond debate.
We watch it all in comfort on TV
insulated from the world’s reality.

We can no longer keep heads in the sand.
We need to take action and make a stand
to help our earth as it’s always helped us.
No longer can we ignore our solemn trust.

If we go along blithely waiting for others
it won’t be too long before we discover
that we have achieved one last distinction:
We’ll be the final species facing extinction.

Freed from the thoughtlessness of man
the earth will revert to how it began.
Patiently, bit by bit, it will discover
its balance once more and start to recover.

Perhaps on that bright far off future day
a small tender green shoot will push its way
with hope through the long fallowed earth and then
a soft breeze will whisper “Let’s try again.”


Notes
Prompt: Broken Promises
Line Count: 36
Word Count:  271

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Ken