One more Haiku for the environment

HAIKU

All too soon, prairies

       will cease as wildlife havens

              ugly urban sprawl

2/16/03 Phyllis VanVleck

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Haiku for the love of nature

HAIKU

All too soon, prairies

will cease as wildlife havens

ugly urban sprawl

2/16/03 Phyllis VanVleck

Read Full Post »

Where Have all the Trees gone?

NATURE AS IT USED TO BE

 

There used to be a tapestry

Of nature’s verdant artistry

A hill where trees and wildlife grew

But now it’s gone from scenic view

Replaced by station and a shed

Both, painted blue and garish red

Like bleeding wounds upon the earth

Replacing years of ancient birth

 

No treetops where a breeze can sigh

In tender leafy lullaby

That cast their shadows down below

In summer’s rain and winter’s snow

No fingered roots to run down deep

Entwining willows that would weep

Embracing those of elm and spruce

And those with fruits once ripe with juice

 

No lovely blossoms, pink and white

Emitting fragrance day and night

Where bees paid visit in the spring

With busy wings that seemed to sing

 

No place for birds to stop and perch

On nesting-trees, like oak and birch

Where butterflies were wont to rest

While on relentless nectar quest

No more birds of brilliant hue

That flashed their colors as they flew

No place for squirrels to race around

On branch and trunk, down to the ground

 

The grove is gone and can’t return

Tall trees and bushes – flower and fern

And soon all spots of earthly class

Will be replaced by steel and glass

If I could only have my way

Such spots would be designed to stay

So in the future you could see

Nature as it used to be

 

7/16/92           Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

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This mighty land of ours

MOUNTAIN MAJESTY

 

Chiseled by great glacial movement

Etched by mighty winds and rain

Stands a range of distant mountains

Sensual in their pristine grandeur

Cloud cloaked summits hiding faces

From the sting of wind blown snow

Waiting for the sun’s flirtation

Warming respite from the cold

On the slopes are verdant meadows

Crystal streams and waterfalls

Great pine forests full of wildlife

Range for bald and golden eagles

Nestled snugly in the valley

Lies a village ‘neath its slopes

Awed by nature’s supreme sculpture

Humbled ever, at its feet

 

8/30/91             Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

4’th … NFSPS 1993

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Where Nature Stood

   WHERE NATURE STOOD

 

Where once there was a wooded hill

The earth is flat and much too still

Trees cut down, dirt hauled away

This is progress, so they say

 

Gone are trees that once housed birds

Who chorused music without words

Gone, giant oaks with arms spread wide

That were the forest’s greatest pride

 

The tangled brush on forest floor

Will not be seen here anymore

Gone are vines, and berries too

Sweet and succulent where they grew

 

And where did all the wildlife go

The tiny fawn and sloe-eyed doe

And squirrels who entertained each day

With lively acrobatic play

 

Raccoons, rabbits, and chipmunks too

Gone forever, as if on cue

And no more den with fox and kits

There’s nothing left, not even bits

 

Because where groves of trees once stood

Are buildings made of brick and wood

And even some of steel and glass

With tiny lawns of pampered grass

 

The hill and woods took years to form

Surviving cold, surviving storm

But in a month ’twas gone for good

Progress stands where nature stood

  

4/4/92   –  Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

1’st … Indiana NPD 1997

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