Earth Day – April 22, 2026
Earth, locus of human kind
Without which, there’d be no
Warmth, community, or mind
Humans wouldn’t even be mythical
But for thousands of years,
We’ve tried to conquer,
Master and replace her
We kill and try to synthesize
Our basic constituents,
But something’s always missing
Never quite as good as the original
Though we loudly claim otherwise.
Now, through purely human machinations
Based on our hunger for power and greed,
We’ve finally cultivated
The inexorable fatal seed
Of our own extinction,
Perhaps, even of sentience,
An unanticipated resolution
Till the next cosmic regeneration
And a new sort of evolution… (?)
–LE – 4/22/26
CynOp 
3 responses to “Earth Day”
Do you recall how many mass extinctions there have been? I’m thinking six. And we are so close, by our own hand, to the seventh.
Not long ago I read a science fiction novel where mankind had reached the stars and started exploring. They never found sentient beings, but on many worlds found evidence of previous life that had ended when nuclear power was discovered. I fear that will be our fate.
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I thought we were in the midst of the sixth, but I really don’t know; I’m sure there is more than one opinion on that point…; -)
I’ve read several SiFi’s that had that or similar plot lines. I don’t have a whole lot of hope for our ‘lot’… But again, no one knows the future, and the only constant in life is change… anything can still happen… it’s not over until it’s over… So, I continue to hope that as the poem says, ‘…that whether we understand it or not, the universe is unfolding just as it should…’ …; -)
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I like your take on this…”the universe is unfolding just as it should.” The thought is comforting. 💕
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