alone on this barren land,
not a brother by my side;
all gone, all slaughtered,
as slowly, they were pried.
nourished by our Mother,
tall and proud, we stood;
till the thought of another,
felt us nothing but wood.
a moment, all that it took,
to push us down and out;
nowhere to go, helpless,
no one to hear our shouts.
our Mother showed wrath,
thunder born of her voice,
rained Her endless tears,
dried lands without choice.
yet all warnings unheeded,
as Man went about his way,
uprooting us all, one by one,
heβll live to regret it one day.
now I am the last standing,
their destruction complete,
the last of an age of green,
in a forest of wan concrete.
Shared with Poetry Pantry, dVerse Open Link Night and One Single Impression
This post is also a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda
(’12, Dec 09)
An excellent message in this. We’re mad.
Yes, we definitely are, Anthony sir π
Perhaps the man won’t live to regret! very well conveyed!!
Yeah, perhaps he won’t too.. Thanks, Meenakshi.
preservation is the watchword for our sustained heritage of tree life
much love…
Yes, but we don’t seem to be much into preservation, sadly. It’s time we did. Thank you, Gillena.
fantastic words Leo…
amazing flow….
and last two lines are too good to be described by any adjective π
Regards,
Anunoy Samanta
——————————-
http://imakemytrip.blogspot.com
http://just4suzan.blogspot.com
I’m glad you felt the last two lines to be too good, Anunoy. Thank you very much! π
Yes ..’he will regret it one day’..
Hope we will realize it before that day come….
Excellent …
Yes, I hope we realize it too, Rashmi. Else it will be regretful one day, and that day will come too soon for us to take. Thank you for finding the poem to be excellent.
Very hard hitting, but so true….Great entry, Leo!
Yes, truth can be hard hitting indeed, Panchali. Thank you.
Wonderful….i loved it…it’s such a mystic poem
Thank you, Anjan.
Wonderful, Leo!
Thank you, Jayanth.
great one Leo …. still there’s time …hope we stop playing with the nature at least now
Yes. Time is still there, but we should act on it immediately. Glad you liked it, TTT.
yes, an important and timely message. well done.
Thanks, Geraldine. Yes, timely message that needs timely action to be taken. Glad you liked it.
So sad the way humans destroy forests and woods as they do. Your poem gave the tree a voice. It needs to be listened to.
PS – you are now added to the Poets United blogroll. I have seen you in Poetry Pantry on a regular basis! Welcome.
Yeah. I missed the last one I think, but been there on the Pantry regularly. π Thanks for the add, Mary.
Yes, a voice that must be heard, and must be heard quickly before it becomes true, and only one tree is left. Development shouldn’t be at the cost of cutting the greenery. Thanks, Mary.
This is the tragedy of our time and you have articulated it so well!
More terrible than we understand at times, Wabisabi. Thanks.
You have captured the tragedy of this so well. We call this “progress.”
I call that “reverse progress”, Susan π We’re progressing, but the way we are doing it, we are going backward. Cheers.
Cheers to you too, Vinay. Yes, recession, not progression.
Indeed, Susan.
“The land vomits out its inhabitants” – I believe one of the biblical “abominations” is deforestation. I wish we would learn how to live in the trees with the trees.
If we keep at deforestation, the land will have no option but to vomit out. I wish too, Aelf. Thanks.
Very important message conveyed here, and also very tight and with a beautiful flow.
Thanks, Bjorn. Glad you liked the flow.
bleak apocolyptic
Or perhaps, a step towards one in the bigger picture, Sabio.
I tend to envision the here-and-now, not a future paradise or ideal kingdom. So for me, such visions are ironically apocalyptic without real redemption.
Perhaps, they are apocalyptic, but for me, it is our here-and-now that might bring it to such a stage. Thanks Sabio.
I feel this poem echoes the sentiments of nature Leo. What a powerful voice and message.
Glad you liked the poem and the message, Katina π Thanks!
Very nice poem .. so serene π
Also check out my entry
http://ankitmahato.blogspot.in/2012/12/i-am-last-tree.html
Thanks, Ankit π Glad you liked the poem.
We reap what we sow, same with mother nature, we have to face her wrath for what we have done to her. Beautifully expressed, Leo. π
Well, Mother Nature is kind too, so if we repent and start taking steps to save her, she’ll smile upon us again too. So we have to take the right steps. Glad you liked my poem, Akshay π Thanks!
We are not there yet, but we are very close. And by the time we break out of our shell of denial, it’ll be too late.
I’ll quote myself from the summary of ‘Home’ that I wrote:
And if you aren’t scared enough, hereβs food for thought: The Permafrost methane time bomb. In Siberia and Alaska, the ground is actually an ice layer trapping huge amounts of methane which is a 20 times stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So if this cover melts, there will be irreversible greenhouse effect and then life on Earth will be doomed. We have only 10 years to stop this from happening. We need to act FAST. It really is too late to be a pessimist. And there is hope. Alternate fuel sources (like solar, wind and hydro energy) are being harvested.
It’s time to uproot the ignorance in our minds rather than vegetation on our Earth.
And yeah, It’s an awesome and hard hitting poem….good job!! π
Thanks Ridz π
So time to stop ignoring, and time to start saving the Earth before it becomes a heated hell. Before its too late, before that close comes to fruition. That’s some fact, Riddhi.
Well written. Lovely message.
Thanks, Kiana π
11 days to go for supposedly mother earth’s destruction…. a lovely poem stating where we went wrong…..very well written
Thanks, Renu. π
Wow! I truly wish I could do such poetry! Compelling message yet so poetic!
You could if you tried, Rajrupa π I’m sure of that.
You point out the irony that sometimes exist within our perception of progress. I do believe awareness is greater and improvement, albeit slow, is taking place.
Yes, there is some progress on this regard. I feel that too, but we need to pick up the pace perhaps, Kim. Thank you.
Nice lines Leo..bt hw sad..you’ve presented the harsh reality in such a picturesque manner!
We need to tone down the harshness before Mother Nature becomes too harsh on us, Mads. Thanks!
Very thoughtful & caring of you to write about this.
Thanks, Indu. It caught my attention quickly, and I felt I had to put it across. I’m glad it came out well.
A thought-provoking read.. So real too. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Candy. Yes, It is quite real, which makes it quite scary as well.
Wow! Absolutely brilliant! A wake-up call to humans to stop deforestation is presented in such a beautiful way. Yes, mother Earth has given us enough of signals that tell us that we have taken her for granted and destroyed her in numerous ways. Itβs now high time to stop the abuse, and set things right before she strikes back in a brutal manner which we might not be able to endure.
Yes, Gracy. We should act before it is too late. Exactly my point π Glad you liked the poem.
ah but concrete is so pretty and gives us so much oxygen….smiles…nice enviromental message sir…
Ah, thanks, Brian π
the last of an age of green,
in a forest of wan concrete.
my favorite lines for sure..
so beautiful and so true
http://mryandrspace.blogspot.com
Thank you, Vidya π I’m glad you liked it, and felt it true.
great way of illustration here. I find the metaphor is always the strongest vehicle for thought, and this piece is exemplary in that manner. Really strong piece. Thanks
Yes, metaphors are good, and directness in that is effective I find. Glad you felt the piece strong, Fred. Cheers.
So chilling, Leo. And so real.
Too real, and an urgent need to fix. Thanks, Victoria.
Amazing poetry!!
Liked this one-
nowhere to go, helpless,
no one to hear our shouts.
Thanks, Vidya. I am glad you liked it π
There’s a Malayalam proverb which, roughly translated, means “It’s not enough that you have eyes, you have to see.” The destruction of nature is something that happens right in front of us, yet we let it go unseen. We realize the value of things only when we lose them, but by that time it’s too late. We cannot afford to let that happen with Mother Earth.
This beautiful poem echoed all this and much more. The last two lines were really striking – loved the contrast in them, especially the usage “forest of wan concrete.” Brilliant work! π
Yeah. I know of the proverb, and it is so true. A little too late, and it might not come back. We can’t afford that.
I’m glad you liked the poem and what it spoke of. Thanks, Zainab π