The Country Sighed

Cygnus X-1

There are sparrows in the hedgerows
All aflutter and sounding distraught,
Twittering, constantly muttering
Over things that Man has wrought,
His philosophy over the years show
In our own cunning we’ve been caught:

‘Accelerate the growth of food
The wheat and corn and rye,
Force feed soils with chemicals
And watch stalks touch the sky.’
But the ground seemed to move
And heave a very heavy sigh.

There are salmon and rainbow trout
Swimming up river and stream
Eager to avoid each fisherman’s hook
And evade his cherished dream;
Yet,if you stand still and listen carefully,
You can almost hear them scream.

‘Reel in all the fishes,
On their flesh we’ll have our fill,
Don’t worry about tomorrow
There’ll be some left still.’
And the stream seemed to shiver
At Man’s cold and callous will.

There are those who look at hedgerows
And rivers when on a country walk
And, carefully considering the countryside
They recoil, it makes them baulk;
If the country had a voice they wonder,
Of what words would it talk?


  • Author: Cygnus X-1 (Offline Offline)
  • Published: September 17th, 2021 14:08
  • Category: Nature
  • Views: 15
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Comments5

  • dusk arising

    Lovely poetry and strong with a timely question cleverly posed.

  • Cygnus X-1

    Thanks for your high appraisal.

  • Doggerel Dave

    Your message is plain and well put in a strong piece of poetry. Mankind has buggered up this planet and will continue to do so.

    Will humans continue to over populate, die of plagues, bomb ourselves out of existence (could there be a balance to be achieved there, somewhere?)

    I’m not very coherent on this subject at all – the whole thing sickens me. Suffice to add that I cannot watch nature films or read nature poetry anymore when I know how fast the lot is going down the gurgler.

  • Goldfinch60

    Very good true words Cygnus. It reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. A friend of mine went to Africa on a Safari and at one place in a building there was a curtain and above this curtain was a sign which said "Behind this curtain is the most dangerous animal in the world" on pulling back the curtain there was a mirror!

    Andy

  • Violet bluebell( used to be yellow rose)

    A good writing . I believe there will be more peace in the future so you know .. maybe things will change .



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