Fires in the North

The air is filled with smoke from the fires in the north.

To walk outside is to barely breathe.

I weep on a bench beneath a maple tree

for mother Earth, and for humanity.

Still, I hear the sound of bird songs,

and a steady wind blows out of the west.

Slowly, the sky begins to clear, and sunlight

illuminates the patch of grass and the trees, 

though a haze still dominates the horizons.

What the earth needs is for the sky to weep.

What the sky needs is a respite from our industry.

Meanwhile, the forests in the north

continue to burn. They will burn until fate takes

mercy. We started the fire—we cannot put it out.

What humanity needs is a respite from its industry.

The earth and sky are screaming for mercy.

Between them, humanity is being crushed.

To walk outside is to barely breathe.

Lord, have mercy on us. May our healing

be the healing of the earth and sky.

May my weeping not be in vain.

May the world be cleansed, as are my eyes.