The World Was Clean Before We Came... Poem by Ramon Amancio Estanque

The world was clean before we came...
but we did not have even the slightest
sense of decency to think that it is
not a big garbage can or trash mound;

The world was clean before we came...
with the waters in the rivers and the
oceans clearly reflecting the clouds
and the skies. But we were too complacent
in our attitudes that we dumped every
kind of trash we could not stand the
sight of, much even the smell of;

The world was clean before we came...
with the clean air we breath giving
life to all its inhabitants, until
development as it is called, fouled it
to the extent that there is no more
safe place to stay in, mostly in
overcrowded cities and towns;

The world was clean before we came...
with the soil meant for growing food
to nourish us. Until pride and greed
overcame our best judgements and littered
it with the blood of our brothers and
poisoned it with deadly chemicals;

The world was clean before we came...
but instead of us polluting just our
minds, we enjoyed the pleasure of heavily
burdening this world with pollution.
Irreversible proportions, never giving a
serious thought that man can never exactly
recreate what God perfectly created;

Like this world that was so clean.... yes
before we came.