Wake Up!

It Matters to Listen Carefully, Now

She called out
to her wayward child—
don’t.

Words will hurt
each other, you must—
think.

Your actions
affect this planet—
stop.

Please listen
you can ease the pain—
feel.

You have one
day I give to you—
live.

Mother Earth
pleads to you and me—
wake.

Warnings to Wake Up!

Do you hear the sighs of Mother Earth speaking to you, pleading to you?

Hate spills over into lives and thinking, staining the precious earth. You only have this one planet, this one life. You and I can make a difference if we choose to heed the wakeup call.

We have received many warnings and calls to action. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring awakened in me a consciousness of the fragility of balance upon the earth.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
— Rachel Carson

Poems planted seeds into my thinking.

A Minor Bird by Robert Frost
“…
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.”

Remember by Jo Harjo
“…
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.”

Of Many Worlds in This World by the 17th-century scientist Margaret Cavendish

“Just like as in a nest of boxes round,
Degrees of sizes in each box are found.
So, in this world, may many others be
Thinner and less, and less still by degree …”

We must respect and care for each other and the world in which we live. Never take for granted the beauty of a morning sky. Trees leaning into one another protect and breathe out so we can breathe in.

A Challenge

Henery X(long) challenged writers to use the power of their words to affect multitudes.

“We must become the change we desire or begin to question our degree of sincerity. Let’s change the ways of this world, one positive interaction at a time.”

— Wake Up!

Today, I offer this poem and my thoughts to rustle the reflections of others. May we all accept the call to write to change the world.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
— John Muir

And always—

Be kind. Be brave. Be you.

Photo: “Wake Up” by Kathryn A. LeRoy