Gaia’s Prophecy
By John Shirley
The human crowd is chattering
Unhearing men trade flattering;
Those ever speaking cannot hear
The voice of the Unseen One near
But quiet ones hear the unheard
Echolocation bears their words:
Spirits of trees, the spirits of mammals;
Animis Mundi of all animals
Spirits of caverns, spirits of sea:
Their moaning cries call out to me–
They mourn the loss of mermaid daughters;
Of fish and whales, dolphins and otters
In forest is heard the lamentation
For creatures lost in mass extinction;
And birds are dying as insects vanish,
Seeds are gone or cease to nourish
At last is come sweet Gaia’s answer
She flicks a finger at the cancer:
“The humans corrupt with greed and hurry
“Have turned the seas to plastic slurry
“They choke Poseidon, and elementals,
“Burn up nature’s fundamentals;
“More than locusts, more than mold
“They gulp and blight all they behold
“But harken to this prophesy:
“Their works will fall to entropy;
“Humanity will consume itself:
“A new extinction on the shelf;
“My kaleidoscope will whirl in glory
“And up will rise a newborn story:
“Nature returns to sanity—
And I won’t bring back humanity.”