Friday, April 22, 2016

LIKE TWO CATS, WATCHING

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Rattling off today's offering. Write a poem for Earth Day, says the NaPo/GloPoWriMo prompt. It's not quite right. I'll probably tweak it at some point, but meanwhile, time's a-marching here in La Manzanilla. We have a plane to catch. Adios from Mexico!

Like Two Cats, Watching

Today we are packing and leaving this place.
Two cats who adopted us, thinking themselves
     safe here,
     fed here,
     perhaps more than tolerated
watch as drawers empty, bags fill. 

We chide ourselves for not being reasonable
about how we feel,
leaving them to fend, almost for themselves,
and we ponder the way we treat our planet
in the scale of things,
     think ourselves safe here,
     fed here,
     some of us more tolerated than others, 
while all around us, really,
we are none of those things
so we go on, waiting for midnight to strike,
for time's up, time out,
and the planet sighs, shrugs,
observes our vain attempts to fix things, 
prepares to go on without us.



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3 comments:

Judy DB said...

A+++++ Linda. Perfect response to the somewhat ironic prompt. Earth? Happy? Do those two words still go with each other???

Vijaya said...

A beautiful, heartbreaking poem!
I like the analogy a lot, though it makes me sad.
Thanks,
Vijaya

Linda Crosfield said...

Thank you, Judy and Vijaya. I'm glad it worked for you and appreciate your comments.