One Earth

When the birds are gone

Will we care ?

Will we sit outside

And mourn the quiet ?

Will there be

A sense of loss ?

Of missing beauty ?

Of Nature diminished ?

Or will we merely

Go inside And turn on the TV ?

When there are

No more animals

And we own the earth

What will we do ?

When the wind Is no longer

Soft and warm

But a raging monster

Tearing off roofs

And whipping fire,

Will we curse Nature Or ourselves ?

And, when the oceans die

And we own

The stinking cesspool

And the earth

Is a giant landfill,

Where will we go ?

Mary de La Valette

July 2015