Silently we document our progress in destroying the earth,
even as it still sustains us
Uncomprehendingly we chart the unplanned spread of our vast
and poisoned cities
We note that our microscopic plastic particulates crowd out
the ocean’s protozoa
Tallying the number of extinctions like sheep, squishy
Greenies fall again into a restless sleep
Jotting down the count of poisoned rivers and ruined lakes
helps occupy our hands
The amount of cropland gone to desert every year is one
vital sign that folks are tracking
The coal-fired consumer progress of India and China fills
our patients lungs
We note with compassion that our numbers grow even as the
count of species drops
We observe animals struggling to adjust their ranges apace
with climate change
Dispassionately we sum forests slashed for firewood,
temporary cropland and cheap construction
Spreadsheets correlate rising ocean acidification with parts
per million of CO2
Our budgets unemotionally reflect increases in defense and
corresponding cuts to child care
With a detached accuracy, lab tests reveal annual increases
in river contaminants
Mourning elders recount the joy and wonder of the
prematurely old and dying world they knew
Studies show marine life riddled with our mutagens and
metals, but offer no solutions
Unable to assist we do, however, await the continuing stream
of expert reports
We self-anoint ourselves with the title of the first life
form to produce a mega-extinction
Seated on vinyl chairs in a dark hospital, we watch as our
population metastasizes
We observe weakened circulation as another great river fails
to reach the sea
The loss of the arctic icecaps is a mere side effect, like
the balding of a chemo patient
We measure the growing number of those depending on
shrinking fossil water wells
Experts point to the strictly increasing number of life
forms which must disappear to sustain us
Holding back our emotions, we duly note our command to our
god that he bless us
We write of the annually-increasing record temperatures to
distant loved ones
We note briefly that economic conditions force us away from
environmental concerns
We are able to disassociate ourselves from the victim’s
plight, at least in our minds
Many among us still reject the truth and refuse to discuss
funeral arrangements
Rodents and insects scurry about in greedy preparation for our
inescapable demise
We stand wrinkled and disheveled in gray hallways overfilled
with strange echoes
And experts offer little life support for any of the many
systems failing, all at once
Young scientists rush to catalog new species from the first
and only individuals ever to be found
We document changes to fishes in waters filled with fire
retardants and hormones
Government leaders can only assure us they are doing
everything the best that they can
We still await an experimental breakthrough yielding a quick
fix and a happy ending
But there are those who just want this horrible suffering to
simply finally be over
And
at last the bells are ringing, ringing, calling us home thru an odd false
twilight
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