Ecology 101

If you are not overawed by the palette of a sunset

and crystalline stars in a diamond-studded sky

or mountains that were once seabeds shimmering

in diaphanous light and rainbows make you shrug;

If painted deserts and sculpted canyons

and the perfumes and rhyme of the seasons

or their absoluteness doesn’t give you pause…

Then look at the trees

not at how beautiful they are full-maned

or even in autumn’s valedictory splendor

not for the flowers and fruits they produce

or the healing plants and herbs still undiscovered

nor for the houses they provide for birds

and other wildlife, man included, or for shade

but selfishly as the source of the air we breathe

and justify if you can the destruction of the forests…

or look at the oceans and rivers

not for the emotions of sounds onrushing restlessly,

as the wind and moon command, that mirror our own,

not for the countless food sources they nourish

nor as the birthplace of life as we know it

but more elementally as just plain water,

understanding of course, that the human body

is mostly water and will die after four days without it

and justify if you can acid rain…

or look at the dome of heaven we’ve torn a hole in . . .