No Now

I sat down at my laptop today and was greeted by a headline that read:  “August was Earth’s hottest month on record, scientists say…”  – NBC news.  The sad thing is, many who hear or read this scientific fact will disregard it because they have been told, by those presently holding the reins of power and the authority of wealth, that science is a sham.  I would ask the people who believe the lie of denial to investigate the reality of an overheated world; the devastation that millions of people, around the globe, are subjected to – people who are suffering the consequences of global warning.  Explain the “lie” of global warming to those whose source of water has dried up and stand helplessly by as their children die of thirst and hunger.  Tell it to those who swelter in heat that is almost too hot to sustain life. Tell it to farmers whose crops are dying.  Tell it to conservationists as they watch wildlife slipping away into the dusty shelves of memory. Tell it to a dying world, while those who are perpetrating the lie lounge in their cushy chairs, in their air-conditioned homes, indulging in meals cooked by personal chefs, drinking expensive bottles of wine.

I understand that it is easier to believe the lie than confront the truth.  The problem is, the problem is roaring steadily past solving.  While we know how to pollute, to savage the earth and stain the air with the products of greed and avarice, we don’t have a solution for undoing the damage.  The only hope we have; is to reverse the course we are on and begin acting like responsible humans whose home is on fire.  We need, together, to put out the flames.

NO NOW

Life litters 
earth
air
muddies waters
tracks dirt 
across pristine
floors of dreams
possibility
left to happen      in quiet corners
beneath stones
in uppermost 
branches of trees
scantily clad in summer
seeds winged       struggle
on belligerent
breezes    barbaric
winds finding
themselves buried
in infertile 
soil

rhythmic
ocean surges above
ebbs beneath 
whales harmonize
in dirges
claiming lamely the prize
of survival
drifting 
out of being   
this earth
those seas strain
beneath the weight
of waste     poisons poised
on the cusp of everything
air     water    wretched 
casualties of
gluttony    the narcissistic need 
for more
than this one orb can
satisfy

days struggle
by 
like clouds
ill-treated by
savaged skies 
   past purpose promised
compromised into
lies

deny 
there is no
now    vague  
 illusionary
carved by cupidity
bastard of lust
betrayer 
of the trust
of time      of origins
the original 
vow

we are
children
of indecision
confusion    derision
only 
this instant
as fingers hit keys
do I dare 
believe I’m living
giving all
the little
that I am
may ever be
caged within
the orphaned soul
of all humanity…