GARDEN GATE KEEPER
From the burnt grass
He stares
At the lush flowers
In her garden
You see his face
Harden
Like the wall
That stands between them
As if god had never seen them
Together
The smoke of bad weather
Plumes and curls on the mountain
Where flags unfurled this morning
All the warning signs
Of power
Fist around a flower
Seized
And broken at its stem
This is the world
Of men
Watching
The extinction of the bees
We see
The burning of the trees
Warming the earth
By frightening degrees
The land going barren
The flowers dying
Soon
Even the garden
Cannot protect us
From the lie
That tricks the mind
The woman in the garden
Stands behind the wall
Oblivious to the man
Who climbs
Knowing he’ll fall
With all the other
Worker bees
Who pray to god
From injured knees
Remembering
We once were
Brothers and sisters
Sharing a life
Sharing a paradise
Sharing a world
Worth defending
And now
We are strangers
Sharing a world
That is ending
©2020 Julie Flanders
Photo Credit Vidar Nordli Mathisen
In Honor of Earth Day 2020
October Process 