Happy Earth-day – A Ragged Ditty
©April 22nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Good day, O Earth!
Emerged at birth
With storms and light
And endless night,
You burst to life
From bloodless strife.
And then, life grew,
And plants all new
Arose and filled
Your carbon mill
With pure air sweet,
Until our feet
Tromped far and wide,
With steps of pride.
And now, a shroud
Of methane clouds
From humankind’s
Polluting minds
Covers your world.
Still, you unfurl
Your petals fair,
And everywhere
Life grows and blooms,
Grows old in gloom,
And dies in time,
While sunny climes
Burn stridently,
And frozen ones
Melt silently.
Perhaps, She’ll live
And She’ll forgive
Our transgressions,
Our aggressions,
Our ignorance,
Restore balance
And leave us out –
Without a doubt
The one mistake
She will not make
This time around.
(In shame we’ll drown.)
But still I walk
These shaded woods
And still I talk
With hopeful “shoulds”
And still I hear
The bubbling streams
While I ignore
My troubling dreams.
For time is short
And life will end
Make space for creatures,
Be Earth’s friend
Love all of life,
And all that’s here
May peace and love
This planet steer.
_____________________________________________________
P.S. Not my best poem, but I wanted to write one anyway.
(I’m a little tired, and need to sleep)
This is NaPoWriMo‘s prompt for Day 22:
And now for our (optional) prompt. Today’s prompt comes to us from Gloria Gonsalves, who also suggested our prompt for Day Seven. Today, Gloria challenges us all to write a poem in honor of Earth Day. This could be about your own backyard, a national park, or anything from a maple tree to a humpback whale. Happy writing!