Poems by Kathryn Hinds
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Lovely Without Us
by Kathryn Hinds
From Canary Summer 2011
Originally from the southern shore of Lake Ontario, Kathryn now lives in the southern Appalachians, in the Upper Chattahoochee watershed.
The earth’s work never stops; it will go on
long after we have quit the scene. In fact
the air may breathe relief when we are gone--
and think of all the species left intact,
and of lands unravaged by relentless lust
for coal and metal, timber, gems, and oil....
Earth will be lovely. But then, we’ll be dust--
organic matter in some forest’s soil,
washed piecemeal to the sea with each new storm,
our sediments compressing into stone,
while a tree bleeds insect-trapping sap to form
the future’s amber, holding frozen one
brief moment of a brief-lived life.
Time both forgives and mocks our transient strife.
© Kathryn Hinds