Wright’s Mountain,

Here on our hilltop
we rejoice and we mourn –
rejoice in the richness
of spruce and pine
of maple and ash
in the softness of moss
and the color of lichens
the snow that has melted
and the flowers now in bloom.

But we mourn our
full streams and clear lakes
lost species, of insects
plants, fish and birds
air, once bright, now
pallid with fumes
from trucks, cars and SUVs.

Gases, invisible, trap the sun’s heat
make deserts drier, melt glaciers
raise seas, swell estuaries
and flood over flat islands.

Fifteen years ago
we set up here
this refuge of green
we preserved trees
that take up carbon
and trails that will give
us and our children
health and joy, a small
but continuing
commitment
to the future of
our beleaguered earth.

Sheila Kaplow June 4, 2009