22nd april INTERNATIONAL EARTH DAY 2024

INTERNATIONAL EARTH DAY 2024

Indigenous peoples everywhere

Lived in harmony with the earth.

She nourished them; she nurtured them,

In death, through life, at birth.

For them, the earth was sacred -

Gaia Goddess; Earth as Mother.

She supported, she sustained them.

They depended on each other.

Then, came men from the Old World,

Their eyes, a-fire with greed.

"I see ... I like ... I want ...

I TAKE! ... MUST HAVE! ... I NEED! ..."

Millennia of mindful care,

Roughly brushed away.

Took just a couple of centuries -

Give or take a day.

"We came ... we saw ... we conquered ...

"We trash - because we can ...."

I shake my head in disbelief,

Cry tears of anger and of grief.....

"We trash - because we can ...?"

Well ...

"What a piece of work is man".....

Ffion