Natural Justice - Poem

Note: I wrote this poem approximately 13 years ago -the words are intrinsic to my soul and they try to explain how I feel about the violent manner in which we have treated our hostess - the earth - and my premise is if she should react to our treatment then how dare we complain - do we really have the right? In fact these words forced their way to the surface after the French nation test bombed Muratoa Atoll quite a number of years ago.....

A Natural Justice

still

stands the earth

poised....

her pivot palls

her life seeps

as her heart breaks.

anchored by a sliver of light

to beyond and past

she spins....

dying on her axis

her dancing days over

her points blunted.

out of the depths she cries

trembling mountains shed icy tears

that slice away her warmth

leaving her barren and distraught.

rivers run yellow

with detritus and acid

tender leaves wither on vines

their brilliant greens fading.

dust billows

puffed up by spring gusts

....and wheat heads fall.

the sky rends itself apart

waves rise on distant shores

to beat on the earth

but when....

night turns into day

the enemy recedes and leaves behind....

nothing....

nothing but puddles and tombs

where people once worked and played.

And where majestic mountains and domed hills

once stood

their beauty stark at dusk;

her spinal cord crumbles

as osteoporosis strikes

at her very strength.

tree-limbed mud

slips and slides

stealthily....

silently....

engulfing villages and towns,

as it snakes

down to a flattened earth.

oceans spew

seas boil

and creatures turn

upon each other

to find themselves beached

whilst seeking solace from the soil;

then....

while waiting for the tide to turn

their bare bones

bleach in the hot red sun.

hugely she suffers

loss and destruction

.... there is no succor.

and so

no longer silent

she wrenches retribution.

copyright: a.a.gallager July 1995.

all rights reserved