The Condemned

Author's Note

A stand of trees
A peaceful meadow
A babbling brook
The condemned

This place where
Birds sing and deer feed
A quiet spot where
The gentle shaman goes
The condemned
The only crime
Not turning a profit
For some soulless developer

The only crime
Not providing convenient
One-stop shopping
For the suburbanite masses
The only crime
Not serving the
Frapaccino sucking spoiled
Children of Yuppy Town

Oh such horrible crimes
Investments must have
A return
Soccer moms must have
Their cost saving
Soulsucking walmarts
And caffeine addicted teenagers
And twentysomethings
Must have their starbucks

So tomorrow the trees fall
So tomorrow the meadow is bulldozed
So tomorrow that babbling brook
Is choked from existence
All in the name of progress

Reviews

[NA]

Powerful,poignant read...it is a shame man has to destroy in the name of progress...great read :)

[Mother Maggie]

That poem came from a memory. Several years ago, I lived in Gresham in a smaller apartment complex behind a small shopping complex that included a Safeway and a small coffee shop/used bookstore. Across the street was a beautiful stand of douglas firs with a couple of dogwoods and a couple of maple trees in it. I used to sit at one of the tables in the small shop, sip tea, read a newly acquired treasure and gaze across the street at those beautiful trees. I remember going to work one morning and seeing that beautiful stand of trees for one last time; because, when I came home there was nothing left but piles of mangled bushes and trees, a huge stack of logs and torn and bleeding Mother Earth--I broke down in tears. I believe they put a MacDonalds and a Wallgreens in the middle of that desecration--like the world really needs one more MacDonalds...

I'm glad that you enjoyed my work.

Namaste and Blessed Be