We love nature so much
we have to better it.
Skyscrapers are our termite mounds
factories our beehives.
Banks are our queen bees
who prosper on our lives.
We love trees so much
we herd them into parks and gardens.
Those allowed on the street
have bitumen around their feet.
We love animals so much
we take their habitat
and peer at them in zoos.
We burrow like wombats
but as they seek shelter
we seek treasure
we toil through soil
with trucks, tractors, earthmovers.
Our superpits are so vast
they alter the climate.
Like the tiniest bird
we love to travel the world
migrate between every continent
but our wings are bigger and stronger
made of steel.
We worship pure water, fresh and salt
we live by water
we walk by water
we move by water
and we feed it our dregs.
Those before us strode softly
for forty thousand years
but we stamp on Australia
with bitumen, concrete, roads and bridges
our rivers of cars flow
across the coastal plain.

Copyright Sandra Roe