Poetry, An Affinity with Sheep and other poems

The last of the white tigers

Fewer red squirrels, loss of song thrushes, polar bears;

melting ice caps, felled rain forests… who will care

for the trees we forget, the creatures whose

lives are threatened, the water with its toxic

undertow? Who will work hard enough, now, to

preserve, conserve, deserve the future?

Who will show the children, search for new

sources of energy, examine the wind and waves?

In this world of comparative affluence, the

effluent is weighing us down, fouling the air.

What price denial, constraint,

or thought for those who come after?

Is your hand in your pocket,

or in the air to show you care?

Will you try to buy less, plant more,

walk not ride, grow a future,

maintain, sustain

so that others,

later, can remain?