Once upon a time
the earth will be new again,
scars healed, roads narrowed,
all life flourishing,
clear-cuts lush with old growth
sustainably harvested,
rivers pure to drink from,
the birds come back, flashing
and speckled fish thronging the seas,
the minefields will be cleared,
the radioactivity gone,
no more stabbings or beatings
or wrongful tears in the night;
the work of humans
will be a few things beautifully made,
humble and fit,
with music, jokes, ceremony,
poetry, and dance in endless abundance
in place of a vomit of stuff
reeking of obsession and bound for the landfill,
humankind scaled back, its factories and cities
no longer a plague
that pimples and blisters the landscape
but a string of jewels
on the body of the earth,
the air fit to breathe again
simple silence available
and billions of stars at night.
O may we weave ourselves
into the fabric of life
and truly feel the path,
smooth or rocky, beneath our feet,
and be worthy of this passage,
long or short,
between the two doorways
where naked we enter
and naked we depart.
– Chris Hoffman
Chris Hoffman is a poet, ecopsychologist, and organization development consultant and the author of Cairns and Realization Point (both poetry) and The Hoop and the Tree (ecopsychology, spirituality). This poem is from Cairns, which is available through Amazon.com or directly from the publisher iUniverse, or through your local bookstore.
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