Rude Awakening

Life is fragile.

Everything and everyone devolves into death;

Life is strong.

Even after great destruction, it persists.

The humans to the earth are as a child to a parent

Our planet gives us everything, but is blind

to the sins and blatant crimes we commit against it, blind

to the fact that it too is fragile

yet it gives us life and resources with the helpless devotion of a parent

even though that devotion may lead to its death

still, it persists

still, it is strong

We claim to be strong;

We deny that we are blind;

Yet the illusion persists

that we are fragile,

that we must avoid death.

We do not think of the planet, our parent

because the essential role of a parent

is to be strong.

We think that the planet need not fear death

for we are blind.

While we may be fragile,

we are not powerless: our race persists

our words, our voice persists

when the planet - our parent -

is fragile:

We must be strong

We must not be blind

We must not fear death

The greatest sacrifice; death,

the great fear it invokes, persists.

So still we are blind

to our dying parent

who, even in the face of death, is strong.

We must correct our failure.

We cannot be blind to the inevitability of death

though our individual lives are fragile, the strength of our voice persists

and when our parent is weak, we must be strong.