ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

A LOSING BATTLE ... Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet


Now Thor the thunder god he smote his Anvil, and the sound
reverberated through the hills and gullies all around,
whilst clouds were tossed like fairy dust and scattered far and near and far
and jagged spears of lightning hurtled earthward, causing fear.
The birds were tossed like powder puffs their feathers all awry -
then those below trembled and cast their eyes towards the sky

A change in substance, felt by all, caused haste and worried frowns,
farmers were worried 'bout their crops, and in cities and towns,
commuters picked their pace up as they hurried to and fro.
Striation clouds were gathering - that forecasted a blow
The terrible twins had been and gone - all thought hope was in sight
but now precipitation warned that they'd get hail tonight

Some say it's green house gases, others - they claim climate change.
Still more claim it's a cycle of the earth and nothing strange,
but those who are impacted and each day it seems there's more
whose lives and homes are threatened both on the sea and shore,
speak with one tongue of terror, how they all feared for their lives;
when nature threw down ice and sleet and stabbed with jagged knives.

Man thinks himself superior and also pretty smart.
Man's modified the crops we grow, ripped out the Mother's heart.
Exploded weapons 'cross the world, polluted streams and seas.
Managed to cause extinction in our wildlife and now bees.
Oh yes! We are the smart ones - we are fuelled by power and greed
but the Mother she is smarter - we are fools ... we take no heed.

A sobering message, Maureen, which covers your weather-related prompts very well. It also hits home somewhat, given that the "Beast from the East" is battering parts of Europe and Britain while the Arctic is unusually warm. We have one daughter in Dublin where the temperature is hovering around zero, it's snowing, people have been told to stay home...and she has only one working tap because the water pipes are frozen. And our other daughter is in Amsterdam, where it's currently -6 degrees and people are skating on the frozen canals!

Cheers
David

Thank you David - I hope your girls will be safe - like you I have family OS as well - relatives in UK are battling the snow and a couple are older than me so there is a degree of concern about them as well

Crazy weather indeed - supposedly (if you can believe Facebook) it has snowed on the Pyramids for the first time in 112 years.

Very pertinent comments in your poem, Maureen. Man's supposed "smartness" soon evaporates in the face of the forces of nature!

Cheers
Shelley

Great poem that says it all Maureen, and that last stanza is so true - because some people think there is nothing happening at all!

I saw that Shelley - very worrying IMO and those pyramids prove that something is happening as I believe that when build they were on the banks of the river - now they are miles away from it.

So many people poo hoo climate change - perhaps the label we use is wrong - maybe it is just a cycle of the earths weather one which is not recorded as its predecessor happened many thousands of years ago - the start of another ice age that will eliminate a species - us. Its predecessor supposedly eliminated the dinosaurs. I am not religious but I have no problem imagining that God would be looking down on earth with a grimace of distaste as he mutters - "I made a mistake - time to start again."

Another very thoughtful poem that's pretty well spot on I reckon.
We can but live in hope that we will eventually make an attempt to save what's left.

Also great use of the prompts as has everybody else except me,
Perhaps I better have another go.

Cheers

Terry