Sadness Unknown
by Odin odin@aflx.com — Read all 3,869 poems by Odin odin@aflx.com
Whether initiated by arson or natural causes, with drought’s wildfire destruction raging through California, a sensitive part of many is challenged beyond the obvious. (Image by StarTribune)
Friday, May 16, 2014
Sadness Unknown
by Odin Roark
Even as many flames anticipate containment,
Who can imagine the sun’s sadness,
Its sharing grace now of disrepute?
Who can know the red hot stone’s longing
To cease suffering and return
To molten beginnings?
How might the conscious know
The river’s dry bed pain,
So long void of even
The most humble of flowing tears?
And who among us
Might understand the suffering
Of surviving tree and weed,
Bird and insect,
Serpent and worm?
All this to consider and mourn,
Even as the one undying ember,
Hidden beyond a firefighter’s eye,
Suffers the burden of impending onus,
As wind’s returning hot breath
Stirs the surrounding ash airborne.
Such sadness is Nature’s defenseless fate
As climatic disruption goes unabated
By the insensitive among our species.
Droughts and conflagrations have always been a part of California history. And the ever present earthquakes that come with irregular regularity. It is no place for humans to live without preparation for such events. On the other hand, one can wonder about the cost of living in a beautiful climate with a beautiful view with people with a beautiful attitude faced with such dangers. If the predictions are true, these kinds of events will increase in time and the lag in our response to early warning signs will be fully felt on future generations as yet unborn.
I have full faith that we will come to our senses and meet the changes head-on with wondrous solutions that will eventually save the planet. However, those in the near-term… this century, will face the brunt of the foolhardiness of messing with mother nature.
Ron