The fawns creep out of the forest
in search of a gentle human
who might help.
Not far off, up in the hills,
their homes are burning.
in search of a gentle human
who might help.
Not far off, up in the hills,
their homes are burning.
They have no language for their distress,
but there are questions in their eyes:
where can we go?
where is it safe
in this world of noisy humankind?
but there are questions in their eyes:
where can we go?
where is it safe
in this world of noisy humankind?
A gentlewoman holds her torch high,
proclaiming to all who might listen:
It is time to help the innocents!
Time for all of us to rise.
proclaiming to all who might listen:
It is time to help the innocents!
Time for all of us to rise.
But will anyone
who can make real change
care to hear
the wild ones' cries?
who can make real change
care to hear
the wild ones' cries?
Sigh. Well, it is hard to write pretty poems when B.C. has so many wildfires already burning, one of them in Port Alberni where my sister lives - in a valley - and has to worry about evacuating her horses on the one two-way highway out of town. Elsewhere in B.C. accelerating snow melt is causing flooding. Some towns have been evacuated in both instances. This is now happening annually. One would think leaders would be urgently legislating lowered emissions from corporations and transportation. But the economy is tied to oil, and is more important than planetary survival, it seems. This gentle human is wearily frustrated, at this moment in time.
For Carrie at The Muse, with thanks for her hosting such a friendly, wonderful site these past years.
Dear Sherry...we had this exact situation Down Under....and sadly it seems that these situations of fires and flood are becoming part of the norm. I hope your sister will be able to save her horses. So many of the victims lose absolutely everything. Hard to know what to say...the survival of the planet does not look promising....however everyone who cares has to keep trying to do anything they can. You have been missed Sherry...I hope you keep fronting up to the Sunday Muse....Animals are wonderful...they deserve to be protected and revered. We can learn so much from them and our pets give us so much love. We have to keep hoping and believe in miracles...
ReplyDeleteOh...I have just realised next week is the the last week of the Sunday Muse...Sigh
DeleteThe question stirs the heart but it is painful to think that so many will not make a change in this world. Your poem is beautiful as always Sherry; from the heart and in love of nature and all that is hers. The oil industry is a destructive industry indeed. Thank you for your kind words Sherry and for your beautiful presence of light and wisdom in the blogging world. We will stay connected be it here or FB. You, as many others are a dear friend to me.
ReplyDeleteYour closing stanza catches the crux of the problem. The kind of person it generally takes to rise to positions of power didn't get there by thinking of the common good, let alone the good of the natural world. It's dispiriting and heart-wrenching to see the distress of any animal.
ReplyDeleteWe have some help for the animals come fire or flood. The wild ones are harder to rescue, they don't know. Most times it seems the injured can be helped because they will not run away or dodge their helpers.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the petroleum industry is about as bad as the gun industries and their lobbies in their filling the pockets of our elected officials. People waking up will need to be made a majority, like the gun industry needs more shooting and killing before that happens. Not to help but what can I get, the voters and the elected.
..
How do you catch the attention of the willfully ignorant? People wonder--quietly, to those around them, if the world is really changing and then keep going. We've been listening to history lectures in the car and whenever the lecturer says "But that wasn't going to last" or "Everything was about to change" I think about the families in fields and markets. Did they suspect? What were they thinking as the armies came through or the language changed or the things they worshipped vanished?
ReplyDeleteA heartfelt poem Sherry ❤️
ReplyDeleteThose who care seem not to aspire to be politicians. And those who aspire to be politicians, don’t seem to care. They are in the lives of the snag Sherry, sadly. Wonderful write my friend. 😀👍🏼✌🏼Sad that this is the penultimate The Sunday Muse. 😕
ReplyDeleteI hereby proclaim you "Gentlewoman" Ms. Sherry!!
ReplyDeleteNeed it be proclaimed? Is it not self-evident?
ReplyDeleteLots of odd unbalanced weather's been reported this spring but BC having wildfires in May--!!!
As for the poem's final question...does everyone here read The Defender? They raise the question whether serious Green action, beyond the household level, can *ever* be reclaimed from the lefty-fascist fakery behind most of what we hear about the environment today.
I can think of ways. I've been thinking of ways for a long time. They would not attract the sort of funding a US presidential campaign needs.
If only the answer to your closing question was yes. I feel your frustration.
ReplyDeleteI really wish I could be optimistic. It seems that those who want change are shouting into the wind in vain.
ReplyDeleteOn the news here they said the smoke from the wildfires is making its way east. I don’t think change will occur as it will take something drastic or be beneficial to corrupt politicians. Sigh… all the voices of the caring are being ignored.
ReplyDelete