I used to watch the trees tango with the wind,

branches swaying and leaves danced aloft;

I used to listen to the wistful hummingbirds,

whose operas caressed my delicate ears,

sizes too small to appreciate their magnificence;

I used to dip my feet in the pond,

following the water as it traversed my feet

like butter searching for the edges of burnt toast;

I used to marvel at the zinnias,

petals varnished scarlet by the sunlight,

blushing at their beauty.

Now I view leaves resting on a bed of dirt,

crushed and crumpled and bearing holes;

The pond in which I once submerged my toes is empty,

now swelling with dust and roots

and silence and solitude;

The zinnias have disappeared,

too ashamed to show their faces once more,

refusing to let me see their blushing;

And the potent melodies of the hummingbirds

have grown silent,

for their composers were forced out of their homes.

I am falling into An Uninhabitable Earth,

slipping into a Sixth Extinction,

heading for a Great Derangement,

becoming a fixture in The Drowned World;

I must defend the trees,

whose voices have been reduced to gasps of air

as they become irrelevant stumps;

I must fight for my brothers and sisters in nature,

who have been ignored

like an overflowing pile of garbage;

I know that if No One is Too Small to Make A Difference,

a difference I shall make.