Boat Ride

On Little Lake St. Germain, an eagle
shadows our rowboat.  Over a couple
of decades back, DDT thinned out their
eggs.  Once plentiful raptors became rare.
When the poisoning ended, they returned,
so the lake looks more as it did when I
was a kid.  I’d like to think that we’ve learned
how even the strongest can quickly die—

I picture polar bears, thin Arctic ice
melting under their paws—they pay the price
for our greed.  I try to enjoy two loons
diving and rising, diving and rising, 
but it’s no use.  The Earth gets awful wounds.
Our nightmare hands can strangle anything.    

—Ken Pobo, Media, PA

 

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