Lament The Death Of Our Rivers

Lament the death of our rivers,

Mourn the toxicity of our air.

Ground once fertile, now parched

Turned desert through our own creation.

Crops wilted and brown

Turn to dust in the noon day sun.

Forests deprived of their lushness

Erode with the slightest hint of rain.

Ravenous pits left barren–

Raped of their precious innocence.

Fracking and drilling–

Consequences of looming disaster ignored.

Ceaseless development choking out nature

Exterminating both the large and the small.

Extinction of whole species despised

When confronting progress.

Denying climate change as a left-wing concoction

Though science the world over proves otherwise.

I watch as all manner of pollution and greed desecrates out world.

Those that speak out are damned as tree-huggers,

Anti-free market liberals, un-American, communists, socialists, unpatriotic.

Is not defending this planet noble?

Do we not owe this fight to our children and their children?

If we can prevent further degradation do they not deserve it?

We have witnessed this day coming,

Nature has foretold of its demise for many a generation at the hands of man

Yet we chose not to see!

Ignorance my friends is not bliss,

It is selfish and egotistical,

It is born of indifference and hate,

Its offspring is ruin and our own extinction!

For what–

A few pieces of silver,

Prestige, accolades, the ivory tower?

What good is any of this if the earth succumbs to carnage?

Take a moment to look at the grandeur of what surrounds you,

This is magnificence beyond any designs of man.

Breathe its air,

Drink of its pure waters,

Gaze with wonder upon its fertile plains,

Glorious mountains, vast and tranquil oceans,

Before it is too late,

For this is true divinity without measure.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Comments

21 responses to “Lament The Death Of Our Rivers”

  1. shoe1000 Avatar

    Awesome. Awesome. An awe full and ominous residue of the projection of the shadow.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. :)

  2. chrisrenney Avatar

    Keep on speaking out! I so agree with your sentiment in this piece.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you Chris, I plan to do so periodically as this is very important to me.

      1. chrisrenney Avatar

        Very important and I look forward to further words from you.

  3. Zara Avatar
    Zara

    Beautiful!!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you very much Zara, that is very nice of you to say. :)

  4. Cheryl-Lynn Avatar

    What a powerful poem!!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you so much my friend. :)

  5. augustmacgregor Avatar
    augustmacgregor

    Defending the planet is definitely noble. As is this poem. Nature needs more of us to speak out like this, to rise above the indifference that you wrote about.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you very much August. I find that as I get older I care more and more about it.

  6. Tiny Avatar

    Strong and true sentiment! Keep it up, please!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      I shall…thank you very much for the support.

  7. Mike Avatar

    A laudable lament. Nice work.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you Mike, I appreciate that.

  8. martha0stout Avatar

    Lament is the right word for what we live with today.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      It certainly is. We are so controlled by capitalism and greed that everything else suffers…our environment, ourselves.

  9. Writer's Dream Avatar

    What a powerful poem!!! I love te way you fight for our dear mother in her travails! Good piece!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Sorry for getting back to you so late, but thank you my friend for the wonderful comment. :)

  10. moondustwriter Avatar

    We are not taking very good care of our water or soil or sea. What are we taking care of??? Thanks for your visit, Dom

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Well there isn’t really very much left after that is there. So much for being good stewards. Thank you for the nice comment my friend.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.