a cautionary tale, a cry from the heart,
by Buff Whitman-Bradley
after Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
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| “Goodbye Earth” by Satovi at Deviant Art. |
The fires, floods and extreme weather seen around the world in recent months are just a foretaste of what can be expected if global heating takes hold, scientists say, as the world’s leading authority on climate change prepares to warn of an imminent and dire risk to the global climate system. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will on Monday publish a landmark report, the most comprehensive assessment yet, less than three months before vital UN talks that will determine the future course of life on Earth. —The Guardian, August 8, 2021
Goodnight Earth
So blue and white
We’re sad to leave
Your days so bright
And starlit nights
Goodnight Earth
We cannot say
We did our best,
Now there’s no way
That we can stay
Goodnight raging forest fires
Goodnight rising seas
Goodnight melting glaciers
Goodnight honey bees
And so much more than these
Goodnight to the children
Who never breathed clean air
Who ate contaminated food
And didn’t have a prayer
Of a world that was fair
Goodnight to those who fought
For justice and equality
A return to wiser ways
Of diversity and sanity
And universal community
Goodnight friends and loved ones
Goodnight plants and beasts
Of our little planet
That we caused to overheat
And otherwise mistreat
We won’t be coming back
We had our chance and blew it
Our story has a moral
But no one left to listen to it
(Or again to misconstrue it?)
So goodnight creek
Good night birds
Goodnight music
Goodnight words
Goodnight window
Goodnight door
Goodnight slippers
On the floor
Goodnight games
Goodnight toys
Goodnight girls
And goodnight boys
Goodnight chair
Goodnight spoon
Goodnight stars
And goodnight moon
Goodnight lark
And owl and thrush
Goodnight old lady
Whisphering Hush
Goodnight Earth
Buff Whitman-Bradley’s poetry has appeared in many print and online journals. His new book is At the Driveway Guitar Sale from Main Street Rag Publishing. He podcasts poems on again, memory, and mortality at thirdactpoems.podbean.com and lives with his wife, Cynthia, in northern California.
