Humankind stomps across our planet
leaving destruction in its wake.
Forests decimated,
species eradicated,
oceans and air polluted,
people starving,
dying.
Mother Earth cries.
“When will you ever learn, when will you ever learn?” 1.
Want trumps need, grows into greed.
More factories, more roads, more buildings.
More money, more of this, more of that.
We get what we want only to want more.
We have no joy in this wanting, in these gains
We compete to have the most,
without concern for those who have less.
Our human nature wars against our humanity.
“When will you ever learn, when will you ever learn?”
“It took a pandemic to show you the way
It took a lockdown to open your eyes
But will your minds, your hearts and eyes cloud over again
once ‘normal’ days return?
Or, will you see how I, Mother Nature,
can teach you how to live,
how to heal the planet.
Together, we can heal what you have harmed.”
“When will you ever learn, when will you ever learn.”
- Inspired by Song, Where have all the flowers gone by Pete Seeger. I changed ‘we’ in refrain to ‘you’.
Painting image: Copyright Wendie Donabie 2019