Robert M. Simmons  

from Added Entries (Poems 1991- )  

             The Death of Life

First the four seasons disappeared

as in the heat the planet seared.

Winter no longer spread its chill

over the valley and the hill.

There was no spring to warm the breeze,

restoring life to lawns and trees.

In fields where summer crops once grew,

malignant winds dry sandstorms blew.

The autumn fruits and days sublime

were pleasures of a cooler time.

There was no one to toll the bell

as one-by-one all species fell.

Strong beasts that roamed the earth with pride

could find no place from heat to hide.

The seas where once abundance bred

were steaming cauldrons for the dead.

Soaring creatures with wings that beat

quickly succumbed to waves of heat.

The humble earthworm far below

became the very last to go.

While man, who might have saved them all,

was there among the first to fall.

                      © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about, global warming, climate change, extinction, poetry, poems

The Death of Life