Drowning Ice


Once a quiet voice of wilderness…

Combustion rages,
lifting waves of acrid smoke,
its cargo catching air streams,
the innocent servants of change.

How removed,
these forests and factories ablaze,
unaware its distant partner,
Nature’s frozen world
suffocating beneath CO2, soot and ash
sinks into the sea.

This residual aftermath-
clinging to crystal flakes,
once but precious maintenance
for evolution’s journey-
has become iced masses collapsing.

Bewildered bear and seal
seek refuge as ice-floats break apart
dissolving their once security
into liquid desolation.

Yet…

We continue to behave
with blind trust,
belligerent denial,
or hollow faith.

Change is happening.

Its rate unattended.
And like a serpent
consuming its tail,
we cling to inaction,
fueling this vortex of insanity.

What may remain?
Nature’s final precipice purging its tears,
its once intricate lace of crystalline,
now but a voice echoing its receding wilderness.

Has our planet become
a fracturing collapse of lamented nakedness,
becoming a forsaken sea of sorrow?