Topic: The Environment
Sestina: Gardeners of Eden I would appreciate comments on both the poetry and the politics.by George Dance
(libertarian)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
To my readers (if any 8) :
I've been writing far less political non-fiction since the U.S. election last month, focussing more on my previous interest, poetry. I intend to continue this column, though, and wanted to stay in touch; so I've taken the liberty of posting a poem with a political theme. I would appreciate comments on both the poetry and the politics.
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Gardeners of Eden
In Africa, gazelles roam the savannah With various and sundry other beasts: Hyenas, lions, zebras cross the plain. You, too, can fly first-class to ogle nature In the raw, to see life live and die In pristine habitat, unspoiled by man.
Adjust the focus, though, and there is man In tiny huts that dot the wide savannah; In starkest poverty they live and die Half-starving, like the other native beasts: An early death to keep the balance of nature, Another pile of bones upon the plain.
One backward look’s enough to make it plain That such was once the lot of every man, A brute existence at the grace of nature: Starvation stalked in forest and savannah, Diseases, dangers lurking both from beasts And other men – they learned to kill or die.
Today we do much more than live and die Like that. Look forward now: Is it not plain We can be something more than merely beasts, That so much lies ahead for life, for man, For us; why not for men of the savannah? Must they be simply set aside for nature?
It seems they must; for here we all love nature, In Africa at least. "Let kaffir die" Could be the motto of our Save Savannah Groups that strive to save that precious plain And never give a single thought to man. Are men somehow less valuable than beasts?
If one loves humans, how can one love beasts? To survive, a man must conquer nature – The only other choice, enslave a man And live a parasite (of course he’ll die But there’ll be others) – that at least is plain. So, should you ever visit the savannah,
Do ask to see the beasts, to see them die In glorious nature, death upon the plain: The bones of man upon the vast savannah.
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hi george, good poetry, here is a quote from Desmond Tutu that might interest you..............."When the missionaries came, they had a bible in their hands, and we had the land. They said,'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the bible and they had the land."
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