The Last Good Days

bird in a tree

What will you do with the last good days?
Before the seas rise and the skies close in,
before the terrible bill
for all our thoughtless wanting
finally comes due?

What will you do
with the last fresh morning,
filled with the watermelon scent
of cut grass and the insistent
bird calling sweet  sweet
across the shining day?

Crops are dying, economies failing,
men crazy with the lust for power and fame
are shooting up movie theaters and
engineering the profits of banks.


It is entirely possible
it only gets worse from here.
How can you leave your heart
open to such a vast, pervasive sadness? 
How can you close your eyes
to the riot of joy and beauty
that remains?


The solutions, if there are any
to be had, are complex, detailed,
demanding. The answers
are immediate and small.


Wake up. Give thanks. Sing.