Until We Learn
by M. Doretta Cornell, RDC
Until we learn how we are
part of it all, we will continue
to destroy.
Until we learn how grass is linked to summer
and glut to starving child,
we will continue to separate, to choose
one part and let the other die,
not knowing both die in that one.
Until we learn how the stars are
our flesh and bone born light years past
and tomorrow rests on the freedom
of the river and all our soap spume
clogs the veins of children living
far downstream in time and space,
and our plastics turn the surf into cancer
or a death trap for a pelican,
until we learn we’re all connected
we’ll devour the links, not seeing gaps
where our toes and ankles were
until we fall
and drown
in the uninhabitable sea
of our own emptiness.