It was a self-regulating system,
a triumph of nature
and the God of Nature.
It is the first and truest home
we will ever know,
and, in all probability, 
an unmatched gem. 

In one short lifetime 
its wounds
have accumulated
grievously.
Our life spawning planet 
has fallen prey 
to the foulest imaginable
practices and philosophies,
all portrayed as rational 
and in alignment with 
nature and the 
expected progression 
of Mankind. 

So- the storyline reads: 
it is in the nature of things
that we endure 
a succession of wars, 
famines, diseases,
and natural disasters. 
The affluent insist
these things are 
tolerable impediments
on the road to betterment.
And all are reassured 
to take comfort in the fact 
that science
will heal us and the planet.

While, under the cover of
drunken illusions,
unaccountable actors
run amok across the face
of the earth 
scrambling to satiate
unbounded lusts. 
They weave greed 
into a fabric of "truth,"
elevating it in status
until it is deemed 
worthy of emulation 
everywhere,
and at all times.

Any beauty and simplicity
that marked pre-modern cultures
is relegated to a past
lacking redeeming virtues.
And anyone who thinks otherwise
is a hopeless loser.

Now this ethic 
is rapidly reinforced
in a competitive rush,
as, diseaselike,
it stretches its choking veneer 
wholecloth 
across the globe
in the pursuit of 
"self interest."

Already, 
in measurable ways,
nature has tipped its scale 
against us,
sooner and more
vigorously than thought possible.

The quality of life, 
sought, promised, 
and deserved 
world over 
is sliding past 
a foreshortened horizon,
its distorted image
fading   
with
the
sun
into 
the 
sea. 

I hear a voice
arising inside
that urges us, 
at the very least,
to compose an explanation 
to the bewildered children
standing behind.