EARTH’S WRATH

Go on people, just carry on!

Destroy nature wantonly!

What do I care to be forlorn!

Fight each other too revengefully!

You’ve done it many times before

I remember all through the ages!

Unforgettable and painfully sore

Fills me with anger and sadness!

All the things I gave you so freely

Are now much ruined and chaotic

Flora and fauna, land and sea

Plundered, raped and now toxic!

Vulnerable and defenseless am I

I break down and am very sad

To flood the lowlands as I cry

My mind flashing like mad!

Breaking down sometimes violently

I shake and become torn about

Wrinkles on my face get unsightly

Deaf to many a microscopic shout!

It’s painful but what can I do then?

You harmed me so and I retaliate

To protect myself and all even

To be healthy to live and to create.

Humans have made a mess of me

I tried cleaning them up for ages

In the ways I know how you see

To reinstate order amid the chaos!

Being quite as old as the universe

Born to nurture creations within

I have now become quite averse

Focused on my being, not on din!

Yes I may seem cruel yet I feel for all

I am everywhere all at once for you

My breath is there for your survival

Yet I am suffocatingly polluted blue!

I blow hot and cold at all times

But that is natural for my well being

Yet I am hotter at some places

Subjected to all forms of burning!

Disappearance of various beings

Not of my doing but by accidents

Don’t the least prick my conscience

These had lived on me as parasites!

Buried in me are untold histories

Still to be discovered and studied

One can learn much rich lessons

Past mistakes can be avoided!

Great minds through the centuries

Had advised Man to respect me

Live in harmony in my omniscience

Use me right and be problem free!

Reduce, reuse and recycle my parts

Cease your destructive ways now

Together we can all live in peace

Look at me but as your sacred cow!

Voyage my waters border to border

Hike my heights and depths around

Use me as you deem fit and proper

Enjoy your time with me in any land.

I was born with others big and small

My breath came about by design

Weathering made me into a ball

To float and spin around the sun.

I am older than everything in me

Yet scant is the respect I get now

I had given birth to each entity

Mostly let them be as they grow.

I have witnessed so much torture:

Global warming and desertification

Wars and pollution to also endure

I barely bear the stress and tension!

Man has altered me much already

My face changed very much in time

Digging,leveling and cutting frenzy

Wantonly done even in my prime!

When dinosaurs ran riot over me

I saw their innocence without fear

Then they disappeared eventually

I really miss their roaring cheer!

Decayed and transformed they are

Now within my body oil and bones

Extracted to be used for fuel and tar

And burn my vital life breath away!

I had no issues with those creatures

Now Man has made me what I am

Quite wasted, dirty, and useless!

I have become a universal scum!

Getting old has no meaning to me

Having lived for millions of years

I feel young always and quite free

Non- judgemental in my own ways.

Living things appear and disappear

Ephemeral and fleeting in essence

Transient memories I never fear

Not sad nor worry without pretense.

Floating and revolving so in space

Maintaining my speed and direction

I am well aware of my eternal place

Not Man though who’s my creation!

Humans are swayed quite easily

Whatever they fancy they then do

Only to regret quite disingenuously

To justify what they think to be true!

Busy building bridges and buildings

Occupying and operating openly

Roads, resorts and residences

Man mismanages most miserably!

I don’t start wars or stand accused

I don’t pollute anything willfully too

Involuntary actions to be blamed?

Actions I do not ever on purpose do!

I do not start forest fires by myself

Someone or my reflex actions did

I cry my heart out at times to delve

Intensely lighting the clouding lid!

Blazing away my sorrows aplenty

Due to atrocities committed by Man

Evil unleashed everywhere cruelly

I burn, break, rot and become dirty!

My once sanguine natural habitats

All much tattered and torn forever

I am bloodied very much in essence

I bear witness to this over and over.

Men have traveled me everywhere

Exploring my depths and heights

To and fro, in and out, here and there

All through since historical times.

I appreciated his ventures always

Marveled at his scientific ingenuity

That quite provided him a license

Playing God to mess me up really!

He always takes me for granted

Thinks I can always provide for him

There for him always when needed

Exploiting me till I become dim!

However dim I get though brother

I will redeem myself forever more

Making my waters clean and clear

I will always follow Nature’s Law!

Father Time and Mother Nature

Oversee all my travels and travails

Helping each and every creature

Live through all of life’s pressures!

My hiccups and refluxes create fear

Quakes and hot flushes bother me

I erupt everywhere far and near

All natural for my survival you see.

Volcanic ducts activate my face

Energizing for my outward beauty

Larval flows cream and fertilize

For flora to flourish in perpetuity.

My deep seas and salty lakes too

Hold so much water for all to drink

That it gives life to all beings is true

Even if it’s polluted and does stink!

My poles are always frozen stiff

However due to Man’s activities

They have started to melt in a jiff

I get feverish through the centuries!

Scientists say I shift here and there

I don’t know what’s the fuss about

It’s only natural I move everywhere

The continents drift without doubt!

Adjusting, fitting and grading myself

Geo-statically aligned as always

I create or unmake to try and solve

Mysteries hidden in me for aeons.

Man has dug me countless times

Messing up my interior and exterior

Searching and researching in mines

To rob my precious innards forever!

Disemboweling me he wants to live

Rich with comfort and graciousness

Using and abusing my all to survive

His sufferings, not mine, are his loss!

Man has created expensive toys

To toy with his and my life forever

I am now a captive to his evil ways

Still hasn’t changed his behaviour!

Man’s greed has made me restless

As he covets, exploits and kills even

Trying to outdo his friends and foes

Power-mad to make hell of heaven!

I was once a Garden of Eden even

Adorned with lush greenery all over

Life forms found me a safe heaven

To roam, to live in harmony together.

Gigantic creatures walked over me

I did not the least flinch or shudder

When Man came into being you see

My life is now quite out of order!

Is Man’s intelligence to do evil only?

Polluting and creating much chaos

Being rich and powerful spoilt many

Egotistical and self-entitled beings!

I do not deny that there are people

Trying their best to protect nature

It’s too little done and not so simple!

Can illiterates teach the teacher?

Conferences, seminars, workshops

Of what use then are these to me

Few actions do not do me justice

My problems are unsolved you see!

Wars, land-grabs, environs polluted

Move me to tears and shivers a lot

Mankind is unkind and demented

I revel to rebel in ways I know best!

Unless Man gets his acts together

I am doomed to suffer even more

Just forgotten for anyone to bother

My existence is at stake in this era!

When the giant lizards ruled me

I had no qualms about them then

They lived for millions of years free

Helping me to keep the peace even!

When born and started to form

I was not perturbed or in disarray

Sol, my fiery dad, made me blossom

With rays of hope to not go astray.

I revolve around him in obeisance

Praying to the almighty with faith

Believing in him to help me hence

To protect and keep me safe.

My child brilliantly shines brightly

Man is moved by her when in love

She circles me too quite snugly

Man feels she’s a treasure trove.

He has set foot on her already

Explored and dirtied parts of her

Leaving material there purposefully

And returns to dirty her even more!

Man wants to travel even further

To far reaches of the solar system

But then keeps me rather improper!

He lives on me forgetting who I am!

I am not his slave to treat me so

Nor am I his mindless machines too

Programmed to do his bidding also

He violates me black and blue!

Raping land, sea and air of purity

Man has become the ultimate evil

His malevolence has no parity

Godly in outlook, he’s the real Devil!

Please don’t misunderstand me

I am saying this in general only

People have planted many a tree

And cleaned me up too actually.

These people are angels in disguise

They not only help me but you too

Protect me from premature demise

Provide me a bit of respite to renew.

God knows what I’ve been through

Man’s advent gave me much pains

It just takes a bit of effort to be true

For Man and I to have mutual gains.

We can practically live in symbiosis

Caring to share anything always

Mutually respecting our existence

Peacefully coexisting in our space.

• Siva Mahendran (21/2/23)