What Have We Done?

Lying dormant underground
a thief of life is waiting
to steal the breath from those unaware.
Unknown to man until this time
when care has not been taken
to save our souls
from what is lying there.

Now who is to say what can be done
to stop the devastation,
spreading like fire among us
one and all?
As we discover
that which we have done to live
is now the very thing heralding
our own ending call.

To live the lives that bring our ease
we care not what we take.
Removing every resource from the ground
Then we stand in shame
when all goes wrong
when the sun goes down.

We have burned a path among the trees
and vines that protect us.
Stolen the very air from our skies.
Now we stand among the ruins
of our own creation
watching the Earth as we know it
say goodbye.

Author's Note

Submitted in the Earth Poetry Contest

Reviews

[Arthur Henn]

Reading this I think of this world of Concrete Jungle we all live in. Where I live, only twenty years ago we had orange and avocado groves all around us. It was still a small town in the wilderness.

Neva - your last stanza says it all, dear

We have burned a path among the trees and vines that protect us
Stolen the very air from our skies
And now we stand among the ruins of our own creation
Watching the Earth as we know it, say goodbye

[Audrey Howitt]

To live the lives that bring our ease
we care not what we take.
Removing every resource from the ground
Then we stand in shame

The rape of the land brings shame to us all--eloquently said---

[Desert Dreamer]

There is much imbalance in the way this cultures lives, it is not sustainable, and will end at some time in the future...makes me sad to see the destruction in the world, must be stopped, but I don't know how, the ones that cause the destruction are blinded by their profits and the rest of us are stuck consuming their products...there is no clear path out of this mess...thank you for the poem that has me thinking still.

[joshua deathdealer]

This is such a sad write. Sometimes it makes me sick just thinking about the topic. I like the necessary bluntness...xx

[E.V. Black]

The imminent destruction of the world is something I think about all the time. I have heard many people say that they believe in the apocalypse of 2012. The end of the world will not come now, but later in the future. At our own hands. We will destroy ourselves, which is the saddest thing of all. Worse, Nature is beating us about with droughts, storms, and earthquakes. We do deserve it.

This is the core of all that I have been thinking about. You made me feel sad. We will waste away.

[Kenneth The Poet]

I like this piece, and I agree with the last sentence but in a more satirical way.

"The planet is fine, the people are fucked." - George Carlin

[?]

Neva,
This is so true and wonderfully written
The last stanza sums it up perfectly

[Art Sun]

we are a destructive force within this world...one must make a stand to change and become the opposite if this Earth is to survive...nice work Neva

[Aidz]

Kewl a change of pace, political even in the current climate, pun intended

I like when you unfurl those wings

[VelvetRosetta]

Goodbye...wow intense and truthfully said, love how you can be so diverse in your writings, a true enjoyment.

[Dream Weaver]

Ooo I adore a great piece such as this.
"What have we done" and what haven't
we done to this terra firma we call
home? Definitively thought provoking...