The Vanishing Lakes, Trees, Clouds, Rivers...

Nature.

In the wild. In human nature...
Metaphor. Metanym....
Out there.
In me...


WE BANISHED NATURE

We banished Nature, made it bleed -
As if Nature ever had the need
For us.

Clouds drift slow across faint stars
As the moon's bright light falls onto rocks,
And out of all our feverish minds
Flows the stench of a terrible pox.

We banished Nature, sowed dark seeds -
As if Nature's darkest deeds
Could not reach us.

Wild waves roar rough upon the breeze
As birds take easy wing,
But all our spreading cities bring
A creeping dread disease.

We banished Nature, banned its creed -
As if Nature ever had to heed
Fool us.

Mountains call, sweet waters sing,
There's beauty found in everything,
But we keep chasing bitter dust
In our crazy, grasping lust.

We banished Nature in our greed -
As if Nature won't be freed
From us.


Dreams hang soft upon the air,
There's silence gathering everywhere,
Yet we haven't got a care
About the damage we have done.

We banished Nature at top speed -
As if Nature cannot easily lead
Us to oblivion.

There's nothing now that's left to die,
Just smoke rising in the sky,
And if you listen there's just a cry
To show that we have gone.

Copyright © Richard Macwilliam

(And, thanks Sir at IIT for the pointing out
of this poem,  the  'deictic',
now that I've learnt tis new word :-)
In relation to the trees
in the campus.)
'Banish' is a deictic too, no?

But then, Nature shall have the last laugh,
as she will say
'I still rise'...  as did Maya Angelou...

As time will surely tell. Over a period of eons...