Earth Day Poem 2020
Dear Earth,
In the Beginning,
I peered out and you flooded through
At first too bright for me see
I shut my eyes, scared
But hooked
What lay out there, just beyond my gaze?
What troubles. It would better to stay safe and warm and held
But what wonders. What majesty. What adventure
I ventured out, slowly at first until you were all that I saw
You were beautiful, your colors,
Your vistas, plains, mountains, valleys, rivers and seas
Filled with sustenance too, the source of all life
I pranced around in your fields, splashed your waters in my face, giggled and plunged in
But you were powerful too. Too Powerful
I always could see that.
I was always a step away from being lost in your vastness
The others told me that too. With their walls, and their garments
protections they built to keep you at bay
Every night they’d wrap me in an extra layer, as if to say, “armor yourself child and you’ll be safe”
And then you struck
Actually, it seems you were always striking, I can’t even remember the first time you did
Sometimes gently
Like, remember that time I cut my knee on your jagged shell and blood dripped out,
or that time that thorn dug itself into my side,
that bee bit me and it stung for days.
Other times your wrath was more violently.
Like when that whole tribe that was swallowed up one day by your uprising sea. The men, women and children and everything they built too.
Father told us all about it.
He said it was cause they were bad, because they stole and killed, but I’m not sure I believed him.
You took Reuben and he was kind. One wrong turn in a long journey and your sun roasted him into a prune.
We found his body two days later shriveled up, worms crawling out of his orifices
And you took so many more of my brothers
washed away
frozen by your bite
ravaged by your winds
and devoured by your other children- those mutts that prowled the land, hungry.
Were you and I enemies?
Could I take up arms against she who birthed me?
Did I have any other choice?
You were to submit. I’d make you.
And I did.
And it was also good for you. I’d make you more beautiful. Work your fields. We could be partners.
Ok sure, sometimes I’d work you too hard.
I’d eat from your tree until there was nothing left. Chop it down and torch it to keep myself warm.
Drill down into your depths, suck you dry and use it to fuel my need.
You had so much to give. It couldn’t hurt you.
And also, I had children to feed. A rapidly growing little gang. They were so cute. Could I let them go hungry?
O, the guilt. My sin is is too much to bare.
You struck first. I saw it with my own two eyes. You killed them. Swallowed them up. My brothers. And you would do it to the rest of us if we didn’t protect ourselves.
And I do love you. I always have. Since the moment you first shined on me.
I still play with you and roll in your grass
and dance on your waves
and tie a string to a kite and watch you bounce her around so delicately.
And what can I do anyways? It’s them.
They’re greedy. I’d make them to stop if I could.
Unless it meant I’d be hungry, or cold, or dead.
Because you would do that. The second I dropped my guard.
So yea. Earth. It’s been a good one.
The first partnership I have ever known.
The one who birthed me, loved me, and nurtures me to this day.
The source of all of my inspiration.
The source of it all.
I do love you
Always have.
Always will.
-Morris
