For All The Creatures of the World
Winds, passing through the valley, rushing over the mountainside.
Tall canopies of birch, and white pine shift with the breeze.
Fluid motions like ocean waves.
The forest draws a deep, raspy breath.
Leaves rustling in the wind,
The mountain sings a song of life.
Animals passing through quietly,
Always just out of sight.
Tranquility is home here.
They’re cutting a four-lane highway through the Amazon,
Just in time for the International Environmental Conservation Summit.
America burns each year.
Canadian forests, logged.
African rivers, poisoned.
Tropical beaches, rising.
People, dying.
Every year we see yet another “once in a lifetime” natural disaster.
How much longer can this go on?
How long before wars are fought for potable water?
How long before the forests dry and burn?
How long before the sky turns orange, then black?
How long before a rapture of our own creation?
Born of greed and gluttony.
Who will die for the sins of humanity?
But all the creatures of the world.