Our Only Child Poem by Jim Yerman

We've shown contempt for our Mother Earth…
We throw garbage on her beach.
Into her air
and land
and sea
our contaminants and pollutants leach.

Yesterday I watched as a beautiful old tree was pushed over to make room for a house…
and then another tree…
and another…
and I had to stop and ask myself…
Is this any way to treat our mother?

Looking at all the times she's been abused
disrespected
and defiled…
I wonder…
if we should stop thinking of her as our mother…
and think of her as our only child.