Summits
Hi, Earth
I hope you’re doing well
Though I know you’ve
Been beset with challenges
The heat is rising
Water, too
Islands in the Chesapeake are
Disappearing
And I know this because
It’s local
What is going under elsewhere?
I’ve read about the polar regions,
Too
That’s big news
In every way
What about the corners I don’t
Know of
Who is in those corners who
Know nothing of me?
Oh, Earth
You’re probably in trouble
And it’s probably our fault
I count on nature’s
Indifference, but I think it’s getting angry
Could a tornado or a hurricane
Be vengeful?
Hail in indictment,
Earthquakes cracking open
Rage, eruptions open wounds
That must have their way?
I don’t know
There is romance in nature, too
I don’t want to lose that
There’s gold in the ocean
Silver in the sky
Diamond where’s there clarity
Gemstone colors everywhere
Though the real wealth
Should be love and understanding,
Which of often indicates
A partnership
Is that still possible?
I want to know you, Earth
Travel all your courses
And maybe, were it possible,
To find something new
We could meet around a rock,
So many of us
Celebrate your sponsorship
Of human possibility
Resources for
Exploration
But we must give something
Of our own, speaking for
My kind
We can’t attend the rock-table
Empty-handed
With something in our pockets
No tricks up our sleeve
It’s too ideal, isn’t it?
We’re too cantankerous on
Either side
I wouldn’t be surprised to find
We both have our illusions
To fool each other, yes
Also to keep us going
You there,
Us here
It’s cynical
It’s fearful
It’s not, to use another idiom,
(we make idioms of you
salt of the you,
for instance)
Cards on the table
So what to do, then
We simply go on, as is?
I cry
You rain
We terrify each other
Ruin things as well
Us by force of will
You by an imbalance
That certain Protestants would say
It our fault, too
Finally, I can only speak for us
And our own
Will and ingenuity
For all you have and all we take
Oh, Earth, I ask of all
We must find ways
To give each other chances
C L Couch
Photo by Denis Linine on Unsplash
clcouch123 
May 17, 2020 at 11:49 pm
That is a beautiful testament to the earth and how we need to care for her. So beautifully expressed. Wonderful writing…
May 18, 2020 at 7:05 pm
Goodness, thank you! Thank you for reading the work!
May 18, 2020 at 5:10 pm
Interesting dialogue with mother earth, Christopher. Her children have to get their act together or she will disown them.
May 19, 2020 at 1:38 am
Yes, I think we could be disowned, Len, as you say. If we wreck nature enough, there would be nothing to offer us anymore, anyway. While there’s time, we could always go for partnership.
May 18, 2020 at 7:14 pm
I cry, you rain.
I like how you have a personal contact with Earth as if it, she, he is a more sensible version of ourselves. I don’t think, I’m sure there’s nothing vengeful about nature, it just is. We mess things up, upset balances and animal species die out, they don’t retaliate. We melt the icebergs, cool the seas, raise ocean levels, creature unstable air systems, it isn’t nature getting its, her, his own back. We’re messing up and the bottom line is destruction.
May 19, 2020 at 1:36 am
I don’t think nature is vengeful, either, though if nature had a will, vengeance would be warranted. We are connected, and we’re not doing our part. Far from partnership, too many of us, as you say, are invested in destruction. Pragmatically, nature has limits. Reasonably, why should we want to destroy that which sustains us? Profit is not an answer or presumption to power.