The Warning - A poem by Liam UiCearbhaill

In 1997 I woke up one night in September and wrote this poem in about 15 minutes. It has had a deep impact on my life ever since.

This poem is in the collection Poetry's Purpose

Available for Kindle download at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YX2VZ78

Available in Printed version at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/uicearbhaill

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The Warning

In days of yore, in depths of time

When all the world was wholly mine

The beasts and birds, the rolling grass

The vales and streams, the mountain pass

The sky above, the sea below

The arctic ice where blizzards blow

T’was then, in joy in all that was

I clear conceived a wondrous cause

To know a creature who could see

All the things that came from me

A sunset’s glow and waterfalls

A stormy night and lightning balls

Who’d wonder at the evening star

And question what those night lights are

Who’d gasp with joy at canyons grand

And seek the peace of seashore sand

I molded him from primate clay

And shaped her spirit for the day

When moved by beauty seen without

Her soul within would leap to shout

And he, from urgings deep inside

Sung music that his soul had cried

I gave them minds to grasp a thought

And hands to grasp the things they wrought

For forty thousand years or more

On tundra steppe and forest floor

They lived as part of what I’d made

In cave and hut, with chipped stone blade

Their lives were hard, but still were good

I gave them joy, I gave them food

I gave them beauty in the land

They gave me thanks with both their hands

They hunted for the bison strong

And gathered grains from grasses long

They saw my moon hung in the sky

And watched the eagle circling high

They learned the way of beast and bug

Of mastodon and trout and slug

They learned which plants would heal their woes

The willow’s bark, the hips of rose

In gratefulness they slew their prey

Then, thankful for their food that day

Expressed their thanks in art and dance

Or mimicked there the elk-herd prance

Or left the earth some pretty gift

Upon some seaward facing cliff

They knew that all the things they ate

Were gifts to them from Heaven’s gate

Then once, ten thousand years ago

A bag of seed was somehow sowed

Upon a patch of broken dirt

As hunters did with farming flirt

And someone caught a baby cow

And raised it to adult somehow

And ever after changed the face

Of how did live the human race

No longer did you hunt and seek

To find the things that you would eat

But rather did you farm and herd

Taming tree and beast and bird

You owned the things that once were mine

The hillock high, the vale sublime

You chained the streams and rivers too

Built dam, canal, and lock, and slough

You carved my land for highways long

Bored tunnels deep through mountains strong

You killed my bison for their hides

And filled my streams with pesticides

You filled my sky with stench and smoke

And caused my creatures all to choke

You spilled my oil upon my sea

And killed my whales, so huge and free

To fill your pockets with my gold

You tore down mountains tall and bold

And scarred my earth to dig my coal

With piles of slag and gaping holes

You claimed that all you saw was thine

To kill and maim, to dig and mine

You set yourselves apart from me

And o’er my world claimed sovereignty

How patiently I watched you grow

Who once did hunt and now did sow

I spoke to you by prophets bold

Who for your wayward ways did scold

You built up temples large and grand

And slaughtered for me beast and man

And by these things you sickened me

Bu still I left you growing free

So then you found creative ways

To send each other to the grave

With sword and spear and bomb and gun

With gas and germs, you’ve had your fun

You filled my sky with birds of war

You filled my ears with cannons' roar

With chemicals you killed my trees

That snipers you might better see

My patience now draws to an end

No longer can I call you friend

You threaten all that I have made

The tidal pool, the forest glade

And with that worst monstrosity

You threaten all that you can see

For on that fateful Summer day

When Hiroshima went away

You told me that I could not trust

The human race and that I must

Protect my world from what you are

A cancer and a source of war

The end is near, do not delude

Yourselves or cop an attitude

But if you seek to still survive

Then turn to me to live your lives

You share the rock on which you stand

You do not own the sea or land

The air about you is not thine

Nor rivers as they sea-ward wind

You do not own the grass and trees

The birds and beasts belong to me

The mountains high, the valleys low

Are mine to tend the things they grow

My anger grows with every puff

Of factory smoke or toxic stuff

Dumped in rivers dammed and stopped

With dirt and slag, with muck and glop

With every tree that’s sacrificed

To print an ad for PC mice

Or jungle burned for farming land

Or dolphin killed for tuna canned

The end is near, be not deceived

Despite what some of you believe

I can defend what is my own

Your self-defense is overblown

Catastrophes will come from me

Your scientists will never see

And when the human terror ends

I will begin my world to mend