One Planet Anthology

ONE PLANET
VANITY OF MAN
With Apologies to Andrew Marvell
How foolish men themselves exert
To do the natural world some hurt
Unceasing labour to attain
A prize that in the end is vain.
While all of nature to us shows
The simple path to what it knows
We men are blinded by our greed
To splice and mix a tiny seed.
Abundant our inheritance
To make it better our pretence.
The curious peach and nectarine
Combine and thus become obscene.
The iridescent water drops
Spray wildly on mutated crops.
Proud Man with his awakened stare
Is heedless of his proper share.
To grab life that’s not yours to take
Does bring destruction in its wake.
We hasten to become extinct
While time itself has barely winked.
Each creature follows its own rhyme
In this created world of time.
Briony Kapoor
13