Velocity
In a very short time
we left horses behind
using motor power
to get from place to place.
Although we moved faster,
we didn't get smarter
and used motor power
to kill more and more of us,
as well as the land
that nurtured us.
If the past is a pattern,
we'll move so fast
we'll leave nothing behind.
Recurrence II
Commotion
attracts a crowd,
some hoping for disaster
to feast on blood, suffering,
but most are horrified
sensitive to the agonies
of innocent victims,
occurring more often
in our troubled land.
Suffusion
We no longer rise at dawn,
do the chores, till the fields,
yet we still suffer
indignities
that nature provides,
flood, drought, tornado,
disrupting fragile lives
that sit up late each night
glued to the television set
accepting programming
determining behavior,
social, economic,
moral, political,
until we no longer know
right from wrong.
Losses
Spring migration
and the warblers head north
passing through Bryant Park
mostly unnoticed,
unaware
that climate change,
loss of forest,
concrete,
will further reduce
diminishing habitat.
Ongoing Events
Human events
perplex
most of us,
who care to comprehend
that things happen
with or without
consent,
affecting us
differently,
some thriving,
some surviving,
some perishing,
determined
by fate,
coincidence,
ill luck,
human contrivances
supplementing
nature's afflictions.
