From Far and Wide

Here, the forests are fluent in fire even though their first language is air

The lands have been taught that there is nothing wrong with being used

The waters give and give and get nothing in return

But, if you walk for long enough, you’ll see that in some places

the trees race against the skyscrapers

arriving at the finish line and breathing out waves of oxygen

Proud, as they stand fighting the winds,

The winds that knock down telephone poles and silver signs in the cities,

they hold up their green trophies; carved with years of photosynthesis

and they never plan to stop

They pose on their podiums, surrounded by the sunny sky

listening until nightfall.

They listen,

Because the moon and the stars have their stories too.

They watch bustling cities and busy streets

filled with neon lights flickering in defeat.

Unable to keep up with nature’s eldest daughter.

She,

she has learned that Man does not listen

that he is stubborn and inventive

He claims parts of her body as his own

He gives them names like Quebec and Saskatchewan,

burying her mother tongue under concrete

and ignoring years of accumulated wisdom

But when she sees the cities,

failing to illuminate the sky as well as her moon does,

failing to build homes as timeless as her trees

she shakes her head because she knows

that even if they were to win,

They’d lose everything.

By Lila Ciesielski