What is Passed On

What is Passed On, Margaret Mair, Original art

When mountains crumble
And hills tumble
And cliffs fall into the sea
Where will we find
That place to stand
That lifts us
Closer to the comfort
Of the sky’s perfect arc?

When busy bees
Are no longer busy
And variegated insects
Cease one by one
To buzz and chirp
And jump and fly;
When hungry spiders
No longer have reason
To spin intricate webs
Nor snails to trace
Their silvery path,
What small creature’s
Unexpected movement
Will catch our lonely eye?

When starving birds
No longer sing and call
Or fill the skies with
Their wings’ flutter,
When hawks no longer
Glide and swoop
Nor long-necked swans
Search the silty water
For sustenance
What sudden song will
Tease the listening ear,
What grace make us smile?

When gaunt deer
Search in vain
For where to graze
And squirrels no longer
Rustle through fallen leaves;
When wary hare and
Chattering chipmunk
Peer no more
From sheltering undergrowth
And the voice of the coyote
Is quieted and lost
What will still dwell
Around us?

When sad trees fall
And invading vines creep
Tentacle by tentacle
Entangling and obliterating
Young forest shoots,
When wildflowers
Find no safe place
To share too-delicate blooms
Where will we turn
For solace and rest
From the wearying world?

When water glows
Phosphorescent
And algae greened
Or oily rainbows
Writhe over its surface
Where will we bathe?
What will we drink?

When leaping fish
Jump for oxygen
And sea creatures
Gasp and gape and die
In the dark depths
Of their watery world,
When all the whales
Are departed and gone
And no dolphins
Leap and spin
In the surly waves
What will keep us company
As we travel
Dead and lonely oceans?

When the warm
Close-woven cloth
Threaded by
All these lives
And so many others
Is rent and torn
What will be left
Of us?

Written by Margaret Mair
Picture, original art by Margaret Mair