They say
near the wildfires
they can hear the screams
of the animals
dying most horrible deaths.
How many times
can my heart break
in one lifetime?
Too many times
to count.
It is too terrible to think about, the hell we have created on earth for the beyond-human realm. And yet, as a poet friend said to me today, if we turn away, who will be left to fight for them?
Sherry, there was a photo in our newspaper this morning of a bear cub clinging to a burned out tree ... in the midst of hazy smoke. Firefighters found water for him and he was able to scamper off. How many of them have perished? It is too much to bear.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is, Helen. Truly unbearable, how helpless they are, through no fault of their own, suffering so terribly because we have not taken care of our garden.
ReplyDeleteTruly unbearable to think about this really. So awful....all those deaths. Just imaginable.
ReplyDeleteIt's everything piled up on top of each other...your words bearing witness continue to be important.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if piercing poems like this will change hardened minds but it sure makes real the grief. And grief changes everything. -B
ReplyDeleteSherry, it breaks my heart all over again to read your words. I agree: too many times.
ReplyDelete