Dream of Earth

Those who study such things, predict Earth’s population will reach 8 billion souls by October, 2022. When I was born there were about 2.5 billion humans living on the planet. We are now witnessing mankind’s large scale impacts on the natural world; and what we see is troubling. Our human propensity for consuming our environment, without regard to the planet’s continued well-being, would seem to be a certain path to extinction. But, turning civilization onto an alternate path requires a major adjustment in our human nature, at a worldwide level, and is therefore exceedingly unlikely to occur.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s shiny new Mercedes convertible, but thou does.

“Dream of Earth” and “In A Beautiful Place” both stem from this concern that mankind may not have the courage to change, even though continuing as we have will surely make for a tragic conclusion.

Dream of Earth
I dreamed I was sleeping beside a brook
in a deep green land,
drunk with the chaos of life.
There were emerald forests as far as I could see,
mosses and heather and wildflowers at their feet.

I woke to a sound I never heard;
the earth wept in silence.
She could not find the reason 
she was being laid waste,
by those she had nurtured
these countless ages. 

There was barrenness as far as I could see,
endless drab, no row crops standing,
only pitiless sunlight and a haze of yellow dust.

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I dreamed I was better than I am,
a true friend to my fellow man
and defender of his fictions.
A guide across the sacred grounds.

But, when I woke, I was as I’ve always been.
My company sought by no one,
in each stranger’s hand, a weapon.

All making our own way, 
steering by some nameless star, 
and, dreaming of a day 
we will be better than we are.


— Chris D. Moore  (7/22)