Our Bluegreeen Globe

If from Space not only sapphire continents,swirling oceans, were visible, but the wars –like bonfires, wildfires, forest conflagrations,flame and smoky smoulder – the Earth would seema bitter pomander ball bristling with poison cloves.And each war fuelled with weapons: it should be visiblethat great sums of money have been exchanged,great profits made, workers gainfully employedto construct destruction, national economies distortedso that these fires, these wars, may burnand consume the joy of this one planetwhich, seen from outside its transparent tender shell,is so serene, so fortunate, with its water, airand myriad forms of “life that wants to live.”It should be visible that this bluegreen globesuffers a canker which is devouring it. Denise Levertov