Paying the Piper

Nearly fourteen billion years ago

Our incredible universe clang

With an incomprehensible blast:

The super miraculous, awesome Big Bang!

It’s hard to fathom the age of the universe,

But even consider the age of dear Earth:

Nine billion years after the Bang

The universe witnessed our planet’s birth!

Despite the billions of years in the making,

Mankind’s time on this planet’s been brief.

But in our short period of time here on Earth

We’ve certainly caused our planet some grief.

Two hundred thousand years of evolving

For modern man, and yet despite

All of those thousands of years of development,

We still haven’t managed to get some things right!

To our foolish carelessness,

The demise of how many species is linked?

(To our credit, at least no one

Can say we made the dinosaurs extinct!)

Efforts by zoos and societies to save

Endangered species have been put in place;

At the same time we continue to threaten

Others at a frightening pace.

Think of all the chopping and drilling

And digging and fracking we've done. Yes?

Add to that the contamination.
We have made a real mess!

We know that Earth’s temperature is rising;

Glaciers continue to melt every day.

Weather’s more fickle with storms more destructive.

To solve this you’ll have to do more than just pray.

What a shame that certain leaders

Remain antagonistic to facts.

How people fall for such careless denial...

What a heavy toll this exacts!

We’re lucky to have this beautiful world;

We’re lucky to share it with others and enjoy it.

But we will have to pay the piper

If we continue to abuse and destroy it.

(4-21-14) By Bob B