The Destruction of Beauty

The Destruction of Beauty

The wind stirs the treetops
The golden sun peaks out from cotton clouds
The droning of bees blends in harmony with the chirping of birds
A soft shower of leaves rains down around me

I listen to the soft crunch of leaves underfoot
I smile at a timid face peeking from high in a tree
The pleasant smell of damp wood and flowers fills the air
The soft raindrops slide down my arm, dripping off leaves

Stars like diamonds, liquid moonlight
Bathes every leaf in silver glory
And the night creatures prowl for their next meal
And the wind sighs in the branches overhead

The soft swish of ceaseless rivers
Soft lapping at the shores of placid lakes
Timeless beauty, unmatched glory in this calm forest
Mother Nature’s gift of peace to our world of chaos

Slashing, hacking, tearing, ripping
Unnatural monsters bearing evermore chaos
To this land of peace, without defense
The calm is shattered, never to be restored

A crr-a-a-a-ck resounds through the air
A tree crashes to the ground, ancient roots ripped out
Families once made their home in its branches
Evicted, they run in terror to keep their lives

Growling, shining monsters fill the air with stinging fume
I stand in the midst of this, powerless to help
I cry for this rejected destroyed gift
And for the ungrateful, ignorant people who threw it away

The next rainfall will not mist the plants
Rolling off the leaves, in puddles where creatures drink
It will fall upon cold, lifeless steel
Absorbed by the unfeeling concrete




The puddles will mix with oil from cars
Toxic and undesirable to quench your thirst
Instead of ferns and cool soil on sunny days
We will tread upon baking hot asphalt

The birds in the air will never return
The deer, running swiftly, will never return
The frogs, for once silent, will never return
I am alone in this once lush wasteland

There is no silver glory that comes with the night
Harsh, unnatural, yellow light has replaced the moon
It lights the worksite, where they construct a strip mall
Over the land of countless generations of those before them

That which I loved, gone forever
Destroyed by the selfish greed of man
How can they do this?
How can they destroy so easily, not caring who they hurt?

I crouch in the bushes
Frozen in disbelief
I don’t want to believe this is happening
I want it to be a dream, a nightmare

But I know it isn’t so, and as dawn breaks
I see that the damage is irreversible
I turn away from that which I once loved
And leave the only home I’ve known forever, never to return