The Rabbit Hole

lillian

Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.

. . . and the gods hovered
watching glaciers melt
fires burn and scar the land
animals lose their habitat
guns and sirens blare
and the gods said enough.

As I stood, hands cupped
shielding candle’s flame
wax dripping faster
wick sputtering weakly
the gods said enough,
and the light was gone.

 

Beauty we are losing.
Calved ice off glacier.
Glacier melting.

Written for dVerse the virtual pub for poets. Amaya asks us to consider how we feel living in “this surreptitious world of smoke and mirrors” and to remember “that writing poetry is a clear and simple form of rebellion against a world that is anything but clear and simple.” Photos from our 2015 Alaska trip where we hiked to a glacier field and saw it melting.  Note this August 18, 2019 headline: Scientists bid farewell to the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change. If more melt, it can be disastrous.” Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us!

26 thoughts on “The Rabbit Hole”

  1. Björn Rudberg (brudberg) August 20, 2019 / 4:20 pm

    I wonder if the gods have ceased to care… maybe they will just let it fizzle out here on earth, they are all busy creating a new humankind elsewhere in the universe.

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    • lillian August 20, 2019 / 4:48 pm

      …life on another planet because we’ve mucked it up so much here?

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  3. msjadeli August 20, 2019 / 6:17 pm

    I can’t think of a more apt epitaph for us, but I hope mercy remains for the non-humans and the planet. Or maybe it will be more of an etch-a-sketch shake…

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  4. Glenn A. Buttkus August 20, 2019 / 6:32 pm

    Tough love, hard truths, dazzling allegory. Science fiction and futurists postulate that human nature will never improve much, on the moon, Mars or Earth II. A very sad projection indeed. You packed so much into brevity; great job.

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:35 am

      Thank you, Glenn. I always appreciate your comments and revel when you enjoy! 🙂

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  5. rothpoetry August 20, 2019 / 9:34 pm

    The light seems to be dimming faster than any of us would like to admit. Well done!

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  6. kim881 August 21, 2019 / 2:42 am

    I love that you went with Alice for this one, Lill, the quote is perfect, as are your photographs – enough proof that the ice is melting. The scene you paint in the opening stanza should make anyone’s heart stop with dismay, but there are still too many who don’t want to accept what humankind has done. The final stanza is a powerful warning.

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:30 am

      So glad you enjoyed, Kim. How can anyone call climate change a hoax?????

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  7. Linda Lee Lyberg August 21, 2019 / 10:35 am

    I think the Gods are going to allow us to meet our demise. And again, as it has done, the earth will evolve and survive.

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  8. Gospel Isosceles August 21, 2019 / 2:15 pm

    I like the visual of both the gods and then you, hovering over the light/life, trying to be protector over that which could no longer be protected. I don’t know the answer to this. But I think the best way to be stewards of the environment is going to have to start with radical change in each of our lives, and an honest passion for harmony to thrive among all breathing things. We are simply too self-serving and have evolved that way for a long time.

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:32 am

      We must all be stewards. Glad you caught the juxtaposition of the gods hovering watching and the individual trying desparately to keep life (light) going.

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  9. katiemiafrederick August 22, 2019 / 1:32 am

    If Nature Could Speak Now
    It Might Paint Orange Reflecting
    Now The Overall Intelligence of
    Falling
    Apex
    Predators
    Echoing Back
    Falling Falling
    Clawing A Precipice Cliff..:)

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:32 am

      A cliff indeed. So nice to see you here, my friend. I’ve missed you! Hope all is okay.

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      • katiemiafrederick August 25, 2019 / 1:15 pm

        Hi Lillian.. so nice to
        See You here Again
        All is going great!
        Hope the same
        For you my
        Friend..:)

        Like

  10. memadtwo August 22, 2019 / 9:46 am

    Such beauty, how can our leaders (our gods these days, after all) fail to see and take action? It’s a continuing mystery. Can they really not ever see beyond themselves? (K)

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:34 am

      I have a hard time calling them “leaders” …. because I tend to think of that word in the sense of being a steward rather than a harbinger of division and hatred.

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      • memadtwo August 25, 2019 / 10:01 pm

        Everything is turned inside out.

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    • lillian August 25, 2019 / 9:34 am

      We saw it….heard the dripping. Climate change is not a hoax.

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  12. robtkistner August 25, 2019 / 12:22 pm

    Interesting and engaging direction you’ve taken with your perspective on Amaya’s smoke & mirrors prompt Lillian well written. Humans don’t really seem to change at their cord.

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