The Earth Cries Silently

The Earth cries silently

"Stave off thy crippling blows"

To those who do not hear

Those who have deafened themselves

From her desperate pleas

Their ears are filled with sounds

Sounds not of nature, but of man

Sounds of hate and harm

Sounds of confusion and carelessness

Sounds of selfishness and seclusion

Each man focused on one, some or all

War has filled their hearts

They fashion machines of death

From a mother who birthed them

And now suffers their abuse

"Stave off thy crippling blows!" she cries

Again and forever unheard

Against each other they charge

Wielding their devices of destruction

With their hate filled hearts

Hate masked by loyalty

Loyalty enforced by lies

Lies of those who subdued earth

Not for her, but for them

Lies that built deceptively strong structures

Structures that carried a corrupt nation

Founded its inhabitants not on stone, but sand

Sand fashioned by man, not his mother

Sand ground from her heart

"Stave off thy crippling blows!" she cries

Again and forever unheard

Man ignores her

They dig deeper

Wrenching out more tools for building

Tools that made nations

Nations that made ideas

Ideas they claimed to be of their own

Ideas that denied earth her rights

Ideas that differed

Drove man to conflict

And made him hate his brother

Hatred masked by loyalty

Loyalty founded on lies

Lies devised by man

Lies that deceived him

And lies that carried him to war

War where he slaughtered his brothers

And war where he ravaged his mother

"Stave off thy crippling blows!" she cries

Forever in silence

Author's Note

This was a bit hippy-ish and it was as well not my best poem.

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

It is a very powerful and unfortunately accurate depiction view of where we are today. I like the repeated 'stave off thy crippling blows' and the repeated sections about sounds, ideas etc work well. I'm divided on whether it could be condensed a bit to perhaps add to the power of the message. You certainly don't have to make any excuses for it.
You might like to look at a 'poem' of mine called 'Gaia -the great earth spirit'. I felt inspired on a recent trip to Sri lanka.
Thanks,
Alan

[Aventicus]

Sure, I'll take a look at it and thank you.

[Alucard6336]

I like it why try to put it in a cliche.

As a pagan, I do believe in a central earth deitie. My beliefs are askewed though, for I believe in Terra whom the earth is sometimes referred to as "the terran homeworld."


But the earth is at risk as more and more of nature is destroyed. Man cannot be swayed unless major ecological changes are made.


This is fun to read and it shows an opinion many share in an objective manner which is the purpose of good writing

[Aventicus]

There has always been a very fine line between the preservation of nature and man and progress. I advocate for progress myself, yet I worry about the greed that lies withing the heart of man.

[daninstockholm]

And around and around it goes, the circle lay unbroken on the sand, it's origins obvious to all who dare look.. I like this one a lot, a bit hippy-ish,not sure I agree but hey, that's not always a bad thing when you consider the alternatives. Well done and a good read!

[Aventicus]

I'm not sure I agree wholly with the thing myself. It was more of an expirement and this is what camr of it. Thank you for the compliment.

[daninstockholm]

haha,, well,, one thing I learned in college poetry classes is to give the poet credit for everything in a poem, conscious or not. This is one of those poems, perhaps, that improves from a second or third reading, or not,, I'll reread it later when I'm home from work and let you know.. but for now, i like it, and you're welcome!