The Warning

In days of yore, in depths of time
When all the world was wholly mine
The beasts and birds, the rolling grass
The vales and streams, the mountain pass
The sky above, the sea below
The arctic ice where blizzards blow
Then, with joy in all that was
I clear conceived a wondrous cause

To know a creature who could see
All the things that came from me
The sunset's glow, and waterfalls
A stormy night and lightning balls
Who'd wonder at the evening star
And question what those night lights are
Who'd gasp with joy at canyons grand
And seek the peace of seashore sand

I molded him from primate clay
And shaped her spirit for the day
When, moved by beauty seen without
Her soul within would move to shout
And he, from urgings deep inside
Sung music that his soul had cried
I gave them minds to grasp a thought
And hands to make the things they sought

For forty thousand years or more
On tundra steppe and forest floor
They lived as part of what I'd made
In cave and hut, with chipped stone blade
Their lives were hard, but still were good
I gave them joy, I gave them food
I gave them beauty in the land
They gave me thanks with both their hands

They hunted for the bison strong
And gathered grain from grasses long
They saw my moon hung in the sky
And watched the eagle circling high
They learned the way of beast and bug
Of mastodon and trout and slug
They learned which plants would heal their woes
The willows bark, the hips of rose

In gratitude they slew their prey
And thankful for the food that day
Expressed their thanks in art and dance
Reflecting, there, the elk herd's prance
Or left the earth a pretty gift
Atop some seaward facing cliff
They knew that all the things they ate
Were gifts to them from heaven's gates

Then once, ten thousand years ago
A bag of seed was somehow sowed
Upon a patch of broken dirt
As hunters did with farming flirt
And someone caught a baby cow
Then raised it to adult somehow
And ever after changed the face
Of how did live the human race

No longer did you hunt and seek
To gain the food that you would eat
But rather did you farm and herd
Taming tree and beast and bird
You owned the things that once were mine
Both hillock high and vale sublime
You tamed the streams and rivers too
Built dam, canal, and lock and slough

You carved the land for highways long
Bored tunnels deep through mountains strong
You filled my sky with stench and smoke
And made my children all to choke
You slaughtered bison for their hides
And filled my streams with pesticides
You spilled my oil upon my sea
And killed my whales, so huge and free

To fill your pockets with my gold
You tore down mountains, tall and bold
And scarred my earth to dig my coal
With piles of slag and gaping holes
You claimed that all you saw was thine
To kill and maim, to dig and mine
You set yourselves apart from me
And o'er my world claimed sovereignty

How patiently I've watched you grow
Who once did hunt and then did sow
I spoke to you by prophets bold
Who for your wayward ways did scold
You built up temples, large and grand
And slaughtered for me beast and man
And by these things you sickened me
But, still, I left you growing free

So then, you found creative ways
To send each other to the grave
With sword and spear, with bomb and gun
With gas and germ you had your fun
You filled my skies with birds of war
And filled my ears with canons roar
With chemicals you killed my trees
So snipers you could better see

My patience now draws to an end
No longer can I call you friend
You threaten all that I have made
The tidal pool, the forest glade
And with that worst monstrosity
You threaten all that you can see
For on that fateful late spring day
When Hiroshima went away

You told me that I could not trust
The human race and that I must
Protect my world from what you are
A cancer and a source of war
The end is near, do not delude
Yourselves or cop and attitude
But if you seek to still survive
Then turn to me to live your lives

You share the rock on which you stand
You do not own the sea or land
The air about you is not thine
Nor rivers as they seaward wind
You do not own the grass and trees
The birds and beasts belong to me
The mountains high, the valleys low
Are mine to tend the things they grow

My anger grows with every puff
Of factory smoke or toxic stuff
Dumped in rivers dammed and stopped
With trash and slag and muck and glop
With every tree that's sacrificed
To print an ad for PC mice
Or jungle burned for farming land
Or dolphin killed for tuna canned

The end is near, be not deceived
Despite what some of you believe
I can defend what is my own
Your self defense is overblown
Catastrophes will come from me
Your scientists will never see
And when the human terror ends
I will begin my world to mend.