AIU graduate has shared his poem with us that he wrote for the AIU
Challenge – Circle of Abundance contest. You can find his poem below, we
hope you enjoy:
EARTH’S WRATH
Go on people, just carry on!
Destroy nature wantonly!
What do I care to be forlorn!
Fight each other too revengefully!
You’ve done it many times before
I remember all through the ages!
Unforgettable and painfully sore
Fills me with anger and sadness!
All the things I gave you so freely
Are now much ruined and chaotic
Flora and fauna, land and sea
Plundered, raped and now toxic!
Vulnerable and defenseless am I
I break down and am very sad
To flood the lowlands as I cry
My mind flashing like mad!
Breaking down sometimes violently
I shake and become torn about
Wrinkles on my face get unsightly
Deaf to many a microscopic shout!
It’s painful but what can I do then?
You harmed me so and I retaliate
To protect myself and all even
To be healthy to live and to create.
Humans have made a mess of me
I tried cleaning them up for ages
In the ways I know how you see
To reinstate order amid the chaos!
Being quite as old as the universe
Born to nurture creations within
I have now become quite averse
Focused on my being, not on din!
Yes I may seem cruel yet I feel for all
I am everywhere all at once for you
My breath is there for your survival
Yet I am suffocatingly polluted blue!
I blow hot and cold at all times
But that is natural for my well being
Yet I am hotter at some places
Subjected to all forms of burning!
Disappearance of various beings
Not of my doing but by accidents
Don’t the least prick my conscience
These had lived on me as parasites!
Buried in me are untold histories
Still to be discovered and studied
One can learn much rich lessons
Past mistakes can be avoided!
Great minds through the centuries
Had advised Man to respect me
Live in harmony in my omniscience
Use me right and be problem free!
Reduce, reuse and recycle my parts
Cease your destructive ways now
Together we can all live in peace
Look at me but as your sacred cow!
Voyage my waters border to border
Hike my heights and depths around
Use me as you deem fit and proper
Enjoy your time with me in any land.
I was born with others big and small
My breath came about by design
Weathering made me into a ball
To float and spin around the sun.
I am older than everything in me
Yet scant is the respect I get now
I had given birth to each entity
Mostly let them be as they grow.
I have witnessed so much torture:
Global warming and desertification
Wars and pollution to also endure
I barely bear the stress and tension!
Man has altered me much already
My face changed very much in time
Digging,leveling and cutting frenzy
Wantonly done even in my prime!
When dinosaurs ran riot over me
I saw their innocence without fear
Then they disappeared eventually
I really miss their roaring cheer!
Decayed and transformed they are
Now within my body oil and bones
Extracted to be used for fuel and tar
And burn my vital life breath away!
I had no issues with those creatures
Now Man has made me what I am
Quite wasted, dirty, and useless!
I have become a universal scum!
Getting old has no meaning to me
Having lived for millions of years
I feel young always and quite free
Non- judgemental in my own ways.
Living things appear and disappear
Ephemeral and fleeting in essence
Transient memories I never fear
Not sad nor worry without pretense.
Floating and revolving so in space
Maintaining my speed and direction
I am well aware of my eternal place
Not Man though who’s my creation!
Humans are swayed quite easily
Whatever they fancy they then do
Only to regret quite disingenuously
To justify what they think to be true!
Busy building bridges and buildings
Occupying and operating openly
Roads, resorts and residences
Man mismanages most miserably!
I don’t start wars or stand accused
I don’t pollute anything willfully too
Involuntary actions to be blamed?
Actions I do not ever on purpose do!
I do not start forest fires by myself
Someone or my reflex actions did
I cry my heart out at times to delve
Intensely lighting the clouding lid!
Blazing away my sorrows aplenty
Due to atrocities committed by Man
Evil unleashed everywhere cruelly
I burn, break, rot and become dirty!
My once sanguine natural habitats
All much tattered and torn forever
I am bloodied very much in essence
I bear witness to this over and over.
Men have traveled me everywhere
Exploring my depths and heights
To and fro, in and out, here and there
All through since historical times.
I appreciated his ventures always
Marveled at his scientific ingenuity
That quite provided him a license
Playing God to mess me up really!
He always takes me for granted
Thinks I can always provide for him
There for him always when needed
Exploiting me till I become dim!
However dim I get though brother
I will redeem myself forever more
Making my waters clean and clear
I will always follow Nature’s Law!
Father Time and Mother Nature
Oversee all my travels and travails
Helping each and every creature
Live through all of life’s pressures!
My hiccups and refluxes create fear
Quakes and hot flushes bother me
I erupt everywhere far and near
All natural for my survival you see.
Volcanic ducts activate my face
Energizing for my outward beauty
Larval flows cream and fertilize
For flora to flourish in perpetuity.
My deep seas and salty lakes too
Hold so much water for all to drink
That it gives life to all beings is true
Even if it’s polluted and does stink!
My poles are always frozen stiff
However due to Man’s activities
They have started to melt in a jiff
I get feverish through the centuries!
Scientists say I shift here and there
I don’t know what’s the fuss about
It’s only natural I move everywhere
The continents drift without doubt!
Adjusting, fitting and grading myself
Geo-statically aligned as always
I create or unmake to try and solve
Mysteries hidden in me for aeons.
Man has dug me countless times
Messing up my interior and exterior
Searching and researching in mines
To rob my precious innards forever!
Disemboweling me he wants to live
Rich with comfort and graciousness
Using and abusing my all to survive
His sufferings, not mine, are his loss!
Man has created expensive toys
To toy with his and my life forever
I am now a captive to his evil ways
Still hasn’t changed his behaviour!
Man’s greed has made me restless
As he covets, exploits and kills even
Trying to outdo his friends and foes
Power-mad to make hell of heaven!
I was once a Garden of Eden even
Adorned with lush greenery all over
Life forms found me a safe heaven
To roam, to live in harmony together.
Gigantic creatures walked over me
I did not the least flinch or shudder
When Man came into being you see
My life is now quite out of order!
Is Man’s intelligence to do evil only?
Polluting and creating much chaos
Being rich and powerful spoilt many
Egotistical and self-entitled beings!
I do not deny that there are people
Trying their best to protect nature
It’s too little done and not so simple!
Can illiterates teach the teacher?
Conferences, seminars, workshops
Of what use then are these to me
Few actions do not do me justice
My problems are unsolved you see!
Wars, land-grabs, environs polluted
Move me to tears and shivers a lot
Mankind is unkind and demented
I revel to rebel in ways I know best!
Unless Man gets his acts together
I am doomed to suffer even more
Just forgotten for anyone to bother
My existence is at stake in this era!
When the giant lizards ruled me
I had no qualms about them then
They lived for millions of years free
Helping me to keep the peace even!
When born and started to form
I was not perturbed or in disarray
Sol, my fiery dad, made me blossom
With rays of hope to not go astray.
I revolve around him in obeisance
Praying to the almighty with faith
Believing in him to help me hence
To protect and keep me safe.
My child brilliantly shines brightly
Man is moved by her when in love
She circles me too quite snugly
Man feels she’s a treasure trove.
He has set foot on her already
Explored and dirtied parts of her
Leaving material there purposefully
And returns to dirty her even more!
Man wants to travel even further
To far reaches of the solar system
But then keeps me rather improper!
He lives on me forgetting who I am!
I am not his slave to treat me so
Nor am I his mindless machines too
Programmed to do his bidding also
He violates me black and blue!
Raping land, sea and air of purity
Man has become the ultimate evil
His malevolence has no parity
Godly in outlook, he’s the real Devil!
Please don’t misunderstand me
I am saying this in general only
People have planted many a tree
And cleaned me up too actually.
These people are angels in disguise
They not only help me but you too
Protect me from premature demise
Provide me a bit of respite to renew.
God knows what I’ve been through
Man’s advent gave me much pains
It just takes a bit of effort to be true
For Man and I to have mutual gains.
We can practically live in symbiosis
Caring to share anything always
Mutually respecting our existence
Peacefully coexisting in our space.
• Siva Mahendran (21/2/23)
