Once, in the beginning, Mother Earth was vibrant,

Her children newly born, mewling, clumsy things

Soft pink hands scrubbing at bright, new eyes

Stumbling through survival.

They relied on her kindness, feared her strength

And Mother Earth breathed once more.

 

Her children soon began to grow,

Taking pieces from the sun, so bright and warm

It scorched Mother Earth, her green a charcoal black,

Her tears weren’t enough to smother the flames.

She bore the pain, would bear it a thousand times over

If it brought her children a sliver of comfort.

 

As they grew, they demanded more and more,

They took her lifeblood, her marrow, her very bones.

More was taken than she could bear to lose

They powered their metal birds, fueled their machines,

And poisoned their Mother with the filth left over.

Yet still, Mother Earth breathed once more.

 

Mother Earth pleaded with her children, 

She could not bear any more, could not survive the agony.

Her children were blind to her suffering, bright eyes clouded by greed.

Their once-soft hands hardened by labor and war, 

Now used for razing her forests, clouding her skies a sickly grey

They robbed their lineage of a prosperous future.

 

As her body was scavenged by her children,

Mother Earth cried out, her tears flooding cities,

Her death rattles stoking the flames that burned her skin.

Her heart had been mined, her blood leeched dry

By the time her children noticed, it was far too late,

And Mother Earth breathed no more.