Green Conscience Poem by Vinaya Joseph

Oh, Mother Forest!
You are the loveliest,
And I am sorry,
I have failed to protect you,
Your woods are a source for livelihood for many,
You are nature's nanny,
Sheltering a zillion herd,
An invigorating part of our cultural heritage,
Saving us from various damages,
Many civilizations have been born in your cradle,
And derived its strength from you,
Be it intellectual or spiritual…

You mean much more than I could express in words,
Reams of prose or poetry can be written in your praise,
Sad, however, is human greed and craze,
How can I mend the pain that humanity inflicted on you.
Some days with a heavy heart I wonder,
And ponder,
What weighs more? Economy or ecology?
Is a thought that worries me,
How inhumane, we humans have become over the years,
We have lost the ‘the green conscience'
I feel ashamed and am sorry,
Achieving economic progress at the cost of ecology,
It was not a victory of human race,
But a disgrace,
We raped you of your virginity,
Of your beauty,
Of that pristine green cover…

For centuries, you insulated land from droughts,
You save soil and prevent landslides and flash floods.
You are the one responsible for the verdant green cover on this blue earth,
You fulfill our primal needs of food, fodder, and shelter
Do we give you the due credit, care, protection, and respect that you deserve?
Columns after columns are filled with news about environmental degradation, depleting forest cover, poaching and illegal logging, global warming, rise in temperature and sea levels, flooding, melting glaciers, and changing weather patterns.
We are witnessing it all…
Yet immune to it all…
We have developed a thick skin,
We have killed our green conscience...
Carbon emitted for eons since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution,
Have left its indelible imprint,
Scarred forever is the earth,
Who is the loser?
It is the generations to come,
Who will never be able to see your beauty,
All you asked is a sensitive and compassionate heart,
I am sorry, we failed to deliver...
Our collective conscience,
Failed you as a human race.
I am sorry again,
For we lack a green conscience...
We must act now else we will lose you forever...