Nature's Lament

Down the valley,
He walked.
Through paths undisturbed,
Awakening the sleeping.


Ignoring the signs,
Unaware of imminent danger,
He sat, and rested,
Upon sacred ground.


He settled,
He relaxed,
He rested,
And remained.


Unwelcome in this land,
He felled the trees around him.
Removing the quiet,
He would be alone no more.


Once the land was cleared,
The dead lay in a pile,
Their bodies desecrated,
Used for homes,
His kin began to arrive.


The boats crunching upon the virgin shore,
Pounding feet along a new path,
Heading towards a new life,
But the same old death.


They arrived,
And began to live,
Amongst the death,
Happy, and at peace,
The forests cried at their presence.


For years they resided,
Spreading further,
And longer,
Flattened land,
Devoid of life.


More arrived,
Drawn by tales of paradise,
By the scent of a new,
Untouched world.


As more and more life arrived,
More and more left the land,
Retreating,
Residing in places unknown.


Villages became cities,
Forests became deserts,
Vast plains filled,
Losing life,
Losing spirit.


But the land was preparing,
For the last chance,
The towns were unawares,
Unsafe from the turmoil
That would send them away,
Far from this land.


The land waited,
Gradually stripped bare,
Anger boiling,
Waiting to burst free.


After many years,
The land gave in.
Released its emotion,
Bursting out and free.


The anger flowed through the plains,
The sorrow over the deserts,
The emotion into the cities.


The land removed the cancer which was growing,
Returned life to its halls.
Sent energy along,
Down the valley,
Over the long forgotten path,
Into the unnatural clearing,
It pooled,
It rested,
Just as he had done.


When the land had finished,
When its anger and sorrow were spent,
The cities were left empty.
The plains renewed.
The deserts devoid of humanity.
And yet, the land was filled with hope.
A single seed, on the edge of the pool,
Waiting, resting,
In the clearing,
By the path,
Down the valley.
Waiting.