Mother Earth (a.k.a. Dear Mother)
- by Krigh Bachmann -
I ran into mother earth today. She looked in rough shape, shuffling her feet
as she barely walked. I asked her what's wrong, she told me I already knew. She
told me that she's been tell me what happened since I was young. But I was
just a child then, I told her. I can listen now. I will understand.
She told me she remembers a time when things were better. We all got along.
We promised her we would be good. We loved her and told her we always would.
When we were young, she would let us rid on her back in the sun and rain.
Then it started; there were a few more and her spine began to ache. Come on,
we said. Just a few more, as her legs began to shake. We only began to
worry when we thought she might give out. Now we don't even ask her, we just
throw on more and tell her to keep going. It's us before her, we have to keep
our heads above water.
It's gotten worse recently. She use to provide for us, but now we just take
it from her. Leaving her little for her children or worse we abuse them too and
deny her access to them. It's her fault we tell her. You're sick and not at
your best. You need to be better for us. The doctors and scientist will make
her better. They will tell her she needs a new gene, a new fuel, a new chip. It
can't be that bad. They tell her giving her a pill so that she can keep us
on her back.
She'll take it, we say. She has in the past and will now. She may cry in the
night, but we can't hear her over the sound of our new stereo.
She is our mother.
She is ours.
She is ours.
She is our property.
She is our real estate.
We buy and sell her now.
We blow smog in her face and singe her prairie hair.
Our drill rip her flesh and we do nothing but cry out for more.
Dig deeper!
Dig faster!
Dig harder! Harder! HARDER!
You are nothing, we tell her. You think you can live without us? *CRACK*
Without our pesticides? Without our power plants? Without our department of
natural resources? We could have killed you a long time ago! *CRACK* Why
should we change? You're the one with the problem! You just can't deliver for us
anymore!
But tonight she will not sleep or rest. She will be in the corner crying acid
rain as her rivers flow with poisoned blood. When she does cry out 'no more',
but we respond with a kick in the ribs as another tree falls. *CRACK*
If a hand crosses her face and no one cares to listen, does it happen? Does
it make a sound? She looks up with tears so heavy they can almost was the oil
from her face. She looks to me for a response, but I didn't hear her. I was on
my cell phone with a client.
