The ice caps melt and forests burn,
And quickly the planet takes new shape;
The angel of death does not pass the righteous
Who have smeared the blood on their doors.
With nowhere to escape but underground,
Throats are seized with Armageddon-
There is no call from the glorious creator-
Thou shalt preserve the primal land.
From a stone age of prophesy
The congregations have filth
To eat. The future arrives:
The air is thick with sulphur,
Heat melts the asphalt and tar,
The river beds are hot as coals,
And cities flood with poison waters.
The digging has begun.
The crust of the earth is deep.
Comments
After reading this a few
After reading this a few times I became more and more aware of its forceful delivery. I have come across many poems about the rape of the earth, this one I like very much.
The Armageddon I am not sure about. It does give atmosphere, and it does tie in with the first clause, "From a stone age of prophesy," this part of the poem has me in the present time, so the line comes more over to me like hyperbole. Oh, I see it, I think the problem word is seized, it puts you in Armageddon now, Perhaps something like, whisper of Armageddon, would render the line more true.
Just my thoughts.
Mark,
Mark,
It is always a pleasure to read your poems.
I like it.
My question is whether you considered writing a poem about the subject positioning your reader closer to the ground. You make me feel as if I am flying above the rivers and forests.
Smaller detailes are often more striking.
What do you think about this approach?
Bugs came from the plain,
marched through the grove.
Who will remember the life-giving shade
once covering smoldering rocks?
and my views only
where shall ''we'' go
as this will not ever happen in our life time (say max 100years)
twill be better if you had said
where shall ''they'' go
go to a museum and see MARS
PERHAPS twas then millenniums gone like earth
Man has a long time to go
I suppose
what interesting and insightfull comments!
giving me very much to consider with this poem. Thanks all for this, very interesting takes on aspects here, showing you spent a some time with the poem. What more can a poet ask??
my hands quiver and mind does shiver
when I dare to comment on stalwarts
jess woud say ...
well lets go
You take pains on my poems, glad you have been seeded with my thoughts. Now grow the seeds beyond beyond,
life to end will never be round the bend
one by one we will go ...
NEVER EN -MASS
till all politicians go
Just been,
Just been agreeing to go on another climate march, then came across your poem. Been a member of Greenpeace for a number of years, and they have been trying to get this message across. You have done so beautifully, in a more poetic form. There is a young girl ( Greta Thournberg ) sailing towards the USA, and she carries the hopes of the young with her. If like her we keep this to the fore perhaps there is a chance. Thank you for your poem. Regards Roscoe...
Hi Mark
Poignant !!!! Your poem alludes bitingly for a need of new forms of societal transformation. The old biblical patriarchs and their admonishins no longer suffice. Everything here is binary as technology advances so does the shadow it casts. We are running out of time. May the old uncooperative opinionated uninformed desist. Let the time is money crowd and screw everything else fall and those who want to save the future <unified conciousness> come to power. We need a tribeless egalitarian new frame work and no doubt we will have to earn it the hard way, through long unmitigated suffering.
A good write!!
I often wonder...
what will the Earth be like for my children and theirs. I know that your poem is about a bit further into the future than that, [at least I hope so] but, I can see it happening because of the inherent disbelief of mankind in general. "That will never happen, SOMEONE will figure out a way to stop it; never realizing that we have to be those someone's. Nice job in those scenes of melting roads and dried up rivers. Geezer.
.