the earth is an ornament. a terrarium within a glass sphere, a balance, a system. a beauty. filled with light and hope and green and truth and blue and love and grey and orange and red. filling with haze and acidity from our mouths and from our eyes, spilling out into the rivers, our brains and guts splattered on pavement like that salamander who could not move fast enough. we dig out roots and networks beneath our feet and crush them to pump out fog and smoke. our bones are those long buried by time and grief. will that be me one day? will i grow up as something to dribble out of fuel tanks to allow for movement not nearly as fast, not nearly as efficient as i once was? you made me into something less of myself, you tore my tongue from my throat and punctured my eyes and gagged my mouth. you cut my wrists with a butcher knife and froze me solid, you ground me to char and let my blood my blood my blood be your ichor. you who never fought for me in life will fight to tear me limb from limb, pour my soul into 3mL, no, 2L, no, 1.65L, yes, yes, that will be enough. enough for what? to power another mile, another crush, another burn? is that my only future? they say those in glass houses should not throw stones but shattering is all i know to do, if i do not break myself i will stay whole and you will break me all the same.

In sleet and rain of Edinburgh
a cathedral rises from the deeps.
The salt of sea and old coal blur
veil her face in grey-cast sheets.

On her western pediment
within tympanum carved of stone
sits Christ triumphant and in judgement
where he calls us all to atone.

I stand before him, my head bowed
as I contemplate our shared guilt,
with mea culpas weighing on my brow
for the follies fallen man has built.

And so we’re burning Eden down
with flaming swords that we still wield
as once vast forests shrink and brown
and fallow lie once verdant fields.

Where trees once stood, smokestacks rear
their heads belching fumes up high
and in the deeps, the oceansphere’s
no more a garden for octopi.

For in this our earthly commonweal
that was a gift that’s given free
we prove that purgatory’s real
because we ourselves have made it be.

A whisper came from the carved face
to walk into this stony womb
where colored light and incense trace
a path to overcome the gloom:

Forgiveness for our many faults
comes when we change our ways.
There in this temple’s holy vault
I vow to fight Eden’s decay.

In Edinburgh I found Eden
in a vision of what can be.
For we are by no means beaten
and we can do it, you and me.

When the changes come
will winter winds still blow?
What world will we see
as quicksilver higher flows?
When this time is past
will songbirds still be heard?
Will parents still tell children
of the bees and the birds?
Will grandchildren know about
lightning bugs in the dark?
Will lovers still know what’s meant
by butterflies in their hearts?
May those gifts that we leave
for those who come hereafter
not become the close
of this book’s final chapter.

The sky, gloomy and cloudy
Flowing tears, loud and mighty
So strong that trees sway,
So strong that bees scatter away

For this was not a cheery moment;
Leaving the lands in such an oddment
The violent wind is preying on the dwellers of this region,
Making them wary of the fuels they hold in their possession.

Should we stop? They mutter
Of course not, leaving this land to suffer
The sky in grief morphed into anger
Sending the lightning to strike like a dagger

The great night’s storm won't go away;
Causing this phenomenon to enravel today
Leaving its fingerprint on display
Letting the world know who to blame  

One by one, they pray for the storm to pass
But the storm always finds its way back
Back stronger than ever and ready to attack
Seeming like the world in on a precarious track    

The birds intend to go south
Only to realize they are headed north from their seasonal oust
For they had no sense of direction
Due to the north being the warm south's reflection

Leaving the world in some kind of dystopian imperfection
Driving the polar bears near to extinction
Day by day, ice melts into water with sorrowful sighs
Just as water is tainted from mankind's mines

Exchanging the atmosphere for oil
Making the corruption seem like soil
Allowing the planet to get rotten and spoil
Leaving mother nature torn and toil

For this is not the final stop;
The days of final destruction are approaching;
The days of final destruction are approaching.

The camera is rolling, incessantly capturing every moment of our lives, leaving us with a world that never stops recording, where privacy becomes a luxury unbeknownst to us. In these private matters, we find ourselves stripped of any semblance of secrecy, exposed to the prying eyes of an ever-watchful audience.

As we gaze upon Mother Earth, we see her through an unsettling lens, viewing her as a captivating entity, akin to a seductive **** who has birthed and nurtured countless lives. Yet, contrasting our admiration, there persists an underlying desire to possess and consume her in a primal, carnal manner. It is as if we hold a fetishistic fascination with her, using fiery words to address her before we even think to disrobe ourselves from the layers of convenience and comfort, leaving her vulnerable and exposed.

This portrayal begs the question of how mankind perceives themselves amidst this intimate performance. Are we mere objects to be stripped down and devoured for the amusement of an unfeeling audience? Stripped of our dignity and possessions, we are left bare, vulnerable, and at the mercy of those who derive pleasure from exploiting our vulnerability. It is akin to a mesmerizing striptease, a tantalizing display that leaves us yearning for something greater.

In the face of such exposure, we find ourselves humbled and powerless, compelled to seek solace and redemption from a higher power. Constantly begging to be bathed in the love and mercy of a divine entity, we yearn for a respite from the unyielding gaze of the world. It appears that the world derives pleasure from witnessing us in a state of vulnerability, reducing us to our weakest form, our knees bent in submission.

In this revelatory expansion of the original sentence, we delve deeper into the implications of a world that ceaselessly records our actions. We explore the complex dynamics between humanity and the environment, finding parallels in our treatment of Mother Earth and our own susceptibility to exploitation. The expanded content retains the core meaning and context, while elaborating on the themes of vulnerability, power dynamics, and the search for solace and redemption.

Gently she raised her dress, revealing where the axe struck the tree,
"Here, a forest once thrived," she whispered solemnly,
Then came the scars, pathways for plastics to reach the sea,
Regret's sewage flowing through springs, an unwanted decree.

Landmines left pockmarks on her face, remnants of war's blight,
Awaiting the innocent, seeking to maim and to ignite,
Deep incisions from perilous landslides, a haunting sight,
A testament to the struggles endured day and night.

She revealed the melting snow, beckoning an avalanche of change,
Witnessing a road where an unsightly swamp once held its range,
Broken ships and skeletons, remnants left estranged,
Abandoned in the depths, hidden in ocean's grange.

Finally, she pointed to the scorching sun with teary eyes, "It didn't burn so fiercely until this heart carried its demise."

We are in danger,

yet we rather behave deaf --


Blasting lights. On. Off.

We humans have messed around
With Mother Nature and her eco-system
For years and years
Decades and decades
Centuries and centuries
Felling gazillions of trees
Turning forests into concrete jungles
Filling ponds, lakes, rivers and seas
With tons and tons of toxic waste
Releasing enough carbon monoxide into the air
To wreck the entire troposphere
The list of sins against Nature goes on and on
With no end in sight
Given all this, who are we to complain
When Mother Nature has had enough
And unleashes her fury on us
Through earthquakes and tsunamis
Avalanches and volcanoes
Hurricanes and tornadoes
Floods and droughts
And so on
Remember, Mother Nature has blessed us
With oodles of riches
In the form of plants and trees
Mountains and forests
Ponds, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans
And last but not the least, oxygen!
It is time we show her some gratitude
And more importantly, respect and compassion
And stop messing around with the eco-system
Remember the famous old saying
Live and let live
It doesn't mean infrastructure shouldn't be developed
We can build roads
We can build a railway network
We can build houses
We can build schools and colleges
We can build hospitals
We can build libraries
However, as my grandfather used to say
There is a limit to everything
And we should also plant trees
Build gardens and parks
Switch to renewable sources of energy
And cut down severely on emissions
A balance should be maintained
After all, messing around with Mother Nature
Will only bring about our own downfall
There have been enough natural disasters
Caused by human negligence
Let's not add to the list
Which is already longer than the river Nile!