Earthquakes, hurricanes, and other “natural” disasters are occuring with greater frequency. As humankind continues to abuse the fragile Earth, has Mother Nature begun to strike back and warn us of impending environmental collapse, wonders David Anthony in a poem.
Waste not your energies and time
Venturing into outer spatial void,
No sister planet of mine
Will nourish you with what I provide
I contain enormous heat within my entrails
With two thirds of my face covered by four oceans
I maintain sea floors with protective plates
I watch the Ring of Fire with full time vigilance
In many times past the heat within
I couldn’t contain,
My hiccups and burps had brought disaster
It makes me sad, it brings me pain.
I have not been a good mother.
Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Typhoons, Hurricanes
Act of God? Blame God? God is not in control.
I have wiped towns and villages off my face.
Act of Man? Blame Man? Man is out of control.
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You call me mother
You don’t treat me well either.
With nuclear testing, you abuse me
Stomach ulcers fester within me.
T’is your nuclear test explosion
Set my tectonic plates in motion,
My fault-lines are fractured
By landslides on my bed.
Chain reactions rumble in by depths galore.
Slowly but surely it finds a weakness
in my lithosphere;
A hotspot breaks through the rocks in temblor
Heave ho! the seismic sea waves appear.
They are happening more often, aren’t they?
Of late, you have not been helping
That makes my anger boil
While I try to contain the force within
You drain my blood, burn the oil.
They are happening more often, aren’t they?
You heat up my atmosphere
Destroy my green saps
Burst open the Ozone layer
Melt my ice caps.
They are happening more often aren’t they?
My sea levels rise, depressions set
My globe is warming
My weather system is upset
Take it as a warning.
They are happening more often aren’t they?
Currents cross, winds gather momentum
You started something, I cannot withhold
The force of hurricanes, typhoons, the storm.
The Ox* is growing weak and old.
They are happening more often, aren’t they?
You call me mother
I will nurture you
Don’t abuse me
Stop making me angry.
Why are they happening more often?
* The people of Ancient China believed that the Earth was balanced on the shoulders of a giant ox. Earthquakes happened when the ox shifted the Earth from one shoulder to the other.
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