Cotton Mather proselytized
Subdue the howling wilderness,
The soul-less Indians
Obliterate by all means necessary
Viscous, violent, virulent
Do God’s Work”
Cultivate the land, erect settlements
Clear the forest of all its darkness
And mystery – the Great Unknown
Meeting places of demonic forces
Oaths and pacts with Satan
Luring the goodly souls
Of Salem Village into wickedness that
Lurks within
The Puritan work ethic
Work and live without mirth or pleasure
Look for salvation in heaven beyond
There only will faith be rewarded
Manifest Destiny derived
From puritanical beliefs
Justifying westward expansion
The pioneer exodus to come 150 years later
The Buffalo herds slaughtered
Packs of wolves decimated
Villages of native tribes, men, women, children
Massacred
Civilize an un-godly land
The land conquered with the Iron Horse
The lacerations of railway tracks
Laid down by the toil of Chinese and Irish immigrants
Many perished in the danger of the task
The railroad fissured
The breast of Mother Earth
Perhaps, too late, the realization of our folly
The aftermath: global warning,
Poisoned ground waters
Yielding up disease – genetic mutations
Now, we strive to see the Buffalo protected
Replenished after near extinction
The herds begin to thrive again
Wolves reintroduced to national parks
Restoring the balance between predator and prey
Grasslands overgrazed by elks
Native voices, long silenced,
By persecution and oppression
Relegated to reservations – poor, unproductive
Unfamiliar soils, unable to prosper
In the natural way, despair born from poverty
Now, they begin to speak their truths
Reclaim the spirit of the land
We begin to listen
Though the descendents of Old Europe slow to enlighten
Old habits of privilege and dominion die-hard
Tainted air, deficient oxygen
A gift of breath from trees, the forests that we felled,
Melting polar ice caps engulfing existing shorelines
The ozone pockmarked unable to deter
Ultra-violet rays, cancerous lesions
Mother Earth, will she forgive us?
Can she be healed?
Though never quite the same
Some wounds never can fully heal
Scar tissue, adhesions, remain
Can civilization and wildlife co-exist?
A peaceable kingdom at last
Have we realized too late?
Must we reap our karma?
Our misguided beliefs of progress
All that is natural, wild and free
We must subdue
And destroy