Poetry – Extinction Rebellion

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Extinction Rebellion

The world is in a mess.

That’s not hard to see.

The plunder and the rape

Is killing bird and tree.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction,

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades,

They’re fighting without blades.

They are fighting for the future;

They are making a huge din.

They’re trying to wake us up,

To what is happening.

For profit and gain,

We are busy plundering.

Without a care for pain,

Or a moment spent wondering.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades

They’re fighting without blades.

So long live the rebellion,

I hope it wakes us up.

Greed is so destructive,

We’ve got to give it up.

But there’s a wealthy bunch

Who just see the cash.

Unless they start to give a damn,

We’re heading for a crash.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction,

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades,

They’re fighting without blades.

Opher – 24.4.2019

What we have done to the world over these last few hundred years is criminal. Without regard to the destruction or the agony of the creatures caught up in it we have devastated the environment.

Things have got to change.

Animal population numbers are decimated. Many face extinction. The wilderness is being destroyed.

Nowhere is safe.

Thank heavens some people are prepared to fight for a better future.

Poetry – Ode to Greta Thunberg

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Ode to Greta Thunberg

It takes a schoolgirl like Greta Thunberg

To point the way.

In a world without an iceberg

We’ll have had our day.

With our cities under water

Life will not be the same.

It takes a young Swedish daughter

To change the game.

Eight billion refugees will be set loose

As the weather alters.

We’ll need to be waterproof

Or else listen to Swedish daughters.

Opher – 24.4.2019

Who would have thought that a young schoolgirl to get people to pay attention. With her schoolchildren sit-ins she has forced politicians to pay attention to what is going on. More power to her.

The young are the future. They will inherit the Earth from us. We need to leave it in good shape.

This last few hundred years has been a disaster for the planet.

We, as a species, have gone berserk. Our numbers have gone through the roof. Our technology has gone astronomical. We have massacred the wildlife, decimated the forests, polluted the oceans and filled the air with our effluent.

Three hundred years ago we seemed to think the world’s resources were infinite. We are clearly seeing they are not.

Unless we step back from the brink and bring sanity to bear we will wreck the world we depend on.

Greta Thunberg knows this. Why is it so many older people fail to grasp it?

Poetry – I Hope

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I Hope

I hope you open your eyes

And see the world.

I hope you see the wonder

Of the creatures

We share it with.

I hope you do not sleep

Through your life.

There is so much

To see and do –

So much beauty.

It is so easy

To sleepwalk

Through it all.

One day you blink

And it is over.

Opher 16.4.2019

I feel that so many people go through life without recognising the great beauty and wonder they are surrounded with. Every breath is amazing, every blink reveals splendour, every sound, every touch and taste is there to be savoured.

The universe is wondrous. It is so sad not to recognise that and revel in it. Nature is inspiring.

Poetry – The destruction of nature

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The destruction of nature

Nature on the run

Chemical and gun

Sterilised and sanitised

All creatures despised.

Nature on the run.

Opher 20.3.2019

As we travelled around Morocco I was looking for the wildlife. You would think you’d see a few lizards. I didn’t see much of anything. It seemed devoid of insects too.

In the gardens there were some birds – little oasis of life amid the destruction of nature, but where was the rest of the wildlife?

Poetry – Remnants

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Remnants

Remnants of the past

In tattered glory,

Flying by,

Crawling in the dust,

Hanging on,

Until we are gone.

Dusty leaves,

Once green,

Now peeking through

Exhaust fumes

Of passing lorries.

Pairs of birds

Devoid of flocks,

Flitting between

Lonesome trees

In search of food.

Opher 1.4.2019

With our pesticides and concrete we have ravaged the rich communities that surrounded us. With our chainsaws, sprawling cities, huge numbers, agriculture and transport we are systematically destroying their homes. With our hunting, overfishing and lust to kill we are decimating populations. With our logging, mines and oil-wells we are poisoning their homes.

What used to be a rich mixture of communities is now reduced to pigeons, sea gulls, black birds and rats.

The remnants struggle to hang on. One day we will be gone and they might return.

Bolton Abbey – the ruins, stepping stones and river wharfe.

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I walked across the stepping stones which was more scary than it looked!!

Poetry – I can hear them

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I can hear them

I can hear them

I can feel them.

They speak to me.

With every cyclone,

Every flood,

I feel their anguish.

Not the people.

For they are the focus of attention.

They receive the aid and sympathy.

They look forlorn and hopeless.

They cry openly on camera.

They elicit the response.

The ones I hear and feel

Are the creatures

Swept aside and ignored.

Unheeded.

Unnoticed.

As if they were of no consequence

And did not matter.

Opher 3.4.2019

Every time I see the devastation in the wake of a cyclone or flood, a bushfire or drought, I think of the poor creatures who are caught up in it.

As the poor people are gathered up, fed, sheltered and looked after there is not a single thought for the creatures who were killed, maimed and had their lives destroyed. Nobody seems to care. But I do.

Poetry – A Wonder

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A Wonder

A wonder of technology

Epitomy of simplicity

A dynamo of energy

Manufacturing complexity

I’ll keep it brief

A leaf.

Layers of green splendour

Cells of biochemical wonder

Intricate skeleton to ponder

Producing energy to squander

I’ll keep it brief

A leaf.

An organelle straight from the past

Under the name of chloroplast

Containing mysteries so vast

The chlorophyll iconoclast

I’ll keep it brief

A leaf.

Opher 3.2.2019

Evolution has provided us with some absolute wonders. We should cherish it and protect them all.

But for most people a leaf is just a leaf.

They wouldn’t even miss them if they went.

Poetry – Three Haikus for Nature

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Three Haikus for Nature

Sun, clouds, drought and flood

Change in a billion strange ways

As carbon traps heat

Wind in tight circles

Spins the sinister raindrops

Into shards of ice

Ripping roofs, mud slides

Violent nature speaks loud

In fury at us

Opher – 9.9.2021

I wrote these to be read together.

We are at the start of an epoch of change. Our activities have altered the planet. Ironically the future is not looking conducive for human beings.

Climate change is not only bad for us; it is also bad for many other species.

Our greed and stupidity is looking to become our downfall.

It is as if we are beginning to experience nature’s fury directed at us – storms, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and droughts. We are reaping the rewards for our actions.

Too many people! Too much greed! Too much damage!! Too little time to put it right!!

We’re creating the future.

Walking in the Yorkshire Dales – photos

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Walking through the beauty of the countryside is very uplifting. But this isn’t really nature. This is managed for farming. The trees have been cleared. This is still, beautiful though it is, part of the factory!