We tear rapaciously at the earth
like the lions on the savannah
gnawing away at a carcass.

We call it black gold we are
after when all it does is
blacken our lungs and

the golden of the sky is a lie
fooling us with its beauty
when it is dusty heat

rising and bouncing back to
burn the earth, sear the
sea and dry up coral

reefs so that species vanish,
forests burn and we sit and
suck in black, noxious fumes.

Soon, we will be gone, too,
and in our place, a green
shoot will poke through.