Wall

Takla Makan*

                                 

the sands of a desert planet drift higher and higher

a once 30-foot wall now short spikes

one could step over them if there were anyone

there are no people left

to bother about such things

as legal or illegal traversing of the wall

the border

there Are no borders

there is nothing to wall off

the drifts of sands

the dust storms  

no water has fallen from the sky

or bubbled up from the earth in centuries

and so the sand

the dust

blows endless over the featureless desert dunes

ever-changing with the will of the wind

no home for any being needing water

the cities drowned so long ago

that only mountain-dwellers remained

on newly shorefront properties for a time

but no bees

no butterflies pollinate their crops

no sweet long grasses feed the ungulates

no grass-eaters feed the carnivores

no plants no animals feed the people

would they possibly descend to eating each other?

or would they lie down in honor

lay down both swords And ploughshares

and join the ancestors in the Stars?

the deaths of all the species happened

so quickly

there was no time to learn new ways

if the people had any will to do so

which in their arrogance

unrelieved by the stench of the dead

and dying all around them  

they denied

it can’t - it won’t - happen to Me!

prayers and cries to deities went unanswered

as the gods and goddesses turned away

“We Gave you all you needed to make good choices

but you were blinded

by the gleam of gold & jewels

all that you called riches

all that you envied and placed above the Mother  

the Home

the Womb

the Cradle

you avoided the lessons of nature

the very nature you were given dominion over

but you disdained it

treated it as if it was limitless

            it Might have been

had you been conscious stewards

but you depleted it in wanton lust and greed

like unschooled infants demanding

More! More! More!”

considering only singular wishes

ignoring the plight of nations

the breath of Creator made flesh

the dark wet fertile body of earth

woman

mother

life-giver

she was fenced and broken and raped and torn  

the richness ripped from her womb

and Burned

and Burned

a wise mother told you to use the Energy of Father Sun

or the waters filling her body cavities

or the pulsing goddess breath

the wind

all ever-renewed

instead of minerals limited by time and space

the black blood

the body gasses

the blackened stones crushed over millennia

there Are No More and it’s too late now  

to turn to the Source and ask to be made whole

thus the spikes atop the useless wall

are the only visible signs

remnants of the folly of humankind

who stole the lives of all beings in their childish grasping

I Want I Want I Want

It’s Yours!

for all the good it will do

even as the Last human being on earth

there will be no more after you

and all the art and poetry and music

will be buried in those blowing sands

for all time

Eventually, the Stars will go out.

© 2019 pamela twining

*takla makan ~ you can go in but you can never come out; 
the Point of No Return