he didn’t know
power and knowledge
could be dangerous
that love of god and country
could pioneer wars
his thunderous clouds
weren’t meant to rain
death and destruction
shifting plates
weren’t meant to target
the poorest poor

erupting plateaus
were not fashioned
to devour
vast tsunamis not designed
to overrun
rising seas and falling snows
convergent boundaries
from flaming ball to cooling walls
he’d planned it all

in our blazing ebb of greed
we’ve disappointed
used our shrewdness
to partition and divide
undertook the yin and yang
of entitlement
through arcane visions
obtuse wisdoms
callous wars

he didn’t know we’d increase
the greenhouse gases
throw off balance biological systems
erupt the core
he thought we’d nourish and protect
his little planet
he thought we’d flourish
and amount
to so much more

By Shirley Howard Hall