The Rape of Mother Earth

                    The Rape of Mother Earth
                                                   by Sandra DeForge

 When I achieve the age of the Elm and Oak, must I suffer the endless, desolate screams of the wind, unfettered, shrieking, and howling?
Battling against the corporal discipline of Mother Nature’s caprice?
Compelled by hidden forces to experience the enslaving eyes of the night.
Eternally watching, forever judged, always condemned.
What then of my agonizing screams of help that go unheeded?

When I attain the age of the vast, ancient, ravaged deserts
I will plead, “Do not force me to endure the long black shadows of indignity,”
Contrived by the hand of the punishing, blistering sun.
Whom I did not grant the permission to embrace, to touch, to violate,
and eventually, attempt to destroy me.
What then of my agonizing screams of help that go unheeded?

When I evolve into the hoary maturity of the caves concealed deep in the hills,
Will I have the courage to give forth the product of my womb, a rebirth?
An innocent brought unknowing into a world of fleshy avarice and greed.
Or was I damned the moment of my birth to be fertile,
incredulous, questioning, and lacking the love of the interlopers of my bounty?
What, then, of the agonizing screams of help that go unheeded?

When I reach the lifespan of a generation of planets and stars,
will I be able to have a love of another, electing this choice truly
not by obsession, covetousness, or the misfortunes since my birth?
Will I be able to experience a heart, a touch, an essence again
and that which is called a soul: with hands carefree and unimpeded by greed?
What then of my agonizing screams of help that go unheeded?

If, however, I am never to acquire a capacity to savor, touch,
and relinquish me without faltering and fear.
To bestow of my flesh, and bear of my flesh, all that is love.
If I am never to discover and convey the sincere wonders of passion,
will I ever be strong enough to endeavor and achieve any age?
Then will my agonizing screams of help be heeded?