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. 

Elegy to the Dying Planet

Not many years ago
You could drink water straight from a flowing stream

Not many years ago
You could walk barefoot and be at peace

Not many years ago
We could say when it would rain

Not anymore.

Lakes, rivers, streams
Chocked with industrial wastes

Broken glasses, plastic, clothes, chemicals
Strangling the last breaths of the soil

Erratic rains, unsteady rain patterns
False clouds, the Met Guys know it!

Dangerous fumes let loose
Intoxicating the skies

Nations rocking bombs, nuclear race
Senseless experiments for “superiority”
And so, Nations converge in some Conferences
Waving the magical wand—we have the solution
So they recite the symptoms and hide the prescription
It is a power game and well guarded interests prevail

Meanwhile, the Climate Change is some exciting talk
You see, to cool off some steam from hot politics
Nations send their own to commit to what they won’t fulfill
Tell me, where is the panic
When all we see is a planet teetering off to oblivion?
Surely, there would have been some urgency
If “national interests” were at stake, right?

So, hyacinths literally suffocate lakes,
Oil leak into water masses,
Buildings are erected on streams,
Forests are depleted,
Wildlife poached,
Condemned buildings are built
Only to collapse and bury the innocent
In Naivasha, flamingos drank pesticides
Emitted from flower farms
Now, Naivasha is an Elegy


Ours is a world gone insane
Multi-billion industries raking billions
And wrecking havoc;
What is the “market value” of pure air?
What is the price-tag of a marabou stork perched on a tree?
Which money will buy Paradise Lost?
What of the Maasai Mara?
Yet, money will exchange hands
For a “private developer” to build on a stream
Where was Environmental Impact Assessment?
Who honours Kyoto Protocol?

This is the Eulogy to a dying Planet
Never in our history are we in much danger
This planet is falling apart!

D)-evolution?

Image credit: google:my.opera.com

Methinks our forefathers 

had guts, chased an antelope

down a cliff, cornered a gazelle

 into a river, bore cold.

I just wonder between the world
and us what changed: we sprint half a

metre and pant like a tadpole before a fall!

C) Lorot Salem 2011



For a Prompt of Jingle Poetry Potluck on Evolution, Environment and Survival.