Hear the Earth
Listen! I am between the sidewalk cracks
Listen! Here under asphalt bought with tax
Listen! To city trees with smog their ax
Hear my healing voice and have hope again
Open your ears, follow the source so then
You might hear clearly words from my vast den
Follow my voice to where winds smell sweeter
Do not let a thing from the sound deter
I wait where my unstopped mouth speaks neater
Here no concrete foundations hold me down
And soft green grass is my glistening crown
No longer are we in a smoky town
City towers of steel stand on my face
Though I gave them metal out of kind grace
Now it is my voice they wish to erase
My green wooden fingers reach up in vain
My grand and rocky fists protest the reign
Of firm structures that view me with disdain
The huge coal furnaces give them power
My dirty dark offspring lights a tower
And makes a black mist that turns rain sour
Glorified steam engines pollute my streams
With invisible and corrupt light beams
This energy’s not as clean as it seems
See, child, observe, and note my many woes
My own womb has produced my greatest foes
The growing betray everything that grows