A DECLARATION FOR THE WILDLANDS

Karen Swaty Art

I hold this truth to be self-evident,

that this earth was created 

as an interconnected

and interdependent system,

so what happens to one part, 

happens to us all.

I believe this earth was always

meant to be a garden, 

for all to share, 

with man as one part only,

careful steward, 

not lord and master

over all other beings.

I believe the animals and creatures 

of land, air and sea, 

understand this truth, 

with grief in their hearts

for Man’s lack of comprehension 

of this vision.

The polar bears, starving 

on their melting ice,

the lions, hunted to extinction 

in “canned hunting” compounds,

the whales and the salmon, 

succumbing to warming seas,

disease, pollution and plastic,

the elephants, slaughtered 

for their ivory tusks,

Mother Earth, herself, 

crying in her loudest voice

over the death of all her children,

know this is not how Planet Earth

was ever meant to be.

There is Enough for All,

if the rich and greedy would share;

there is Enough for All,

if corporations would care,

or if, somehow, they

simply were not there.

I hold this truth to be self-evident:

What happens to one of us,

happens to us all.

One day corporate greed itself

will fall. 

for Bjorn's prompt at Real Toads: to write a Manifesto. My voice will always speak for the wildlands and all of its creatures.