A Society of Hornbills

Today is the World Thinking Day. The theme this year is on “Environment”.

Here’s my attempt.

Link

What happens when a society

That is keen on self-destruction

Poison the air that they breathe

In the name of civilization?

What happens to the collective wisdom

Of a society that kills and plunders

Chocking the soil that sustains life

Drying up the waters that quenches its thirst?

What happens to the children

Who, being told “protect the environment”,

Witness with horror their parents

Throw waste into public spaces?

Sadly, our society has become

The proverbial hornbill that was warned

But never heeded

I looked at my daughter’s eyes and cried

Her eyes shone bright, her smile so pure

I wish the air was so

I wish the neighborhood she lives was so

When she grows up I will tell her:

“Daughter, your lungs have inhaled

Obnoxious gases which I helped create;

The wetlands, the forests, the waters—

All that was beautiful-- I have depleted;

And now, teary as I am, I recognize my folly;

I was mean and greedy, I never thought about you;

The gift I could have given you would have been

The snow on Mt. Kenya and the Mara and the Statunga

But now, depraved, ashamed, I have nothing to offer

But the acrid air, denuded soils and cactus raising their arms in protest”

And even if my daughter smiles

I know all is not well

All will not be well.