Mother Earth

The Earth, Created

Life teeming in a fetal squirm,
Holding hands in naïve connection
Calling by name, the calling confirmed
By habitual, relational perfection

Full, and proud, and round
With unbroken peace inside her womb
Until the parasite of pride unbound,
Poisoned, and consumed.

The Earth, Broken

Sustains violence,
We strike and kick and break
Her ground, her silence
Makes her grieve in quakes

Weeping in dead feathers and fur
And the decaying bones of man
Planted deep inside her
She awaits the deferred plan

To redeem her brood.