Elizabeth Romero: The Myth of Nature

Nature, Mr Allnut, is what we are put on
this earth to rise above.—Rose, in The African Queen
.

Let us take a lesson from nature

Let the big ones eat the little ones

Let the sharpest teeth prevail

Let the black veins of the trees

Push through the leaves’ green blood

Toward an infinity of pitiless blue

Let the dead be dead

And the living

Well, the living, let them try

To stay that way

Let us take a lesson from nature

Let the fire burn

Let the water come

Let the ocean roar

Let the rain fill and fill

Let the dead be dead

And the living, well, the living,

shh says the water shh shh

Let us take a lesson from nature

Let the motherless young

Starve or be eaten

Cheeping their brains out

Under an impassive sky

Let fire do what it’s supposed to do

Let the dead be dead

Let the fire burn

Let the water come

and shh says the water shh shh shh

Copyright 2019 Elizabeth Romero