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Beneath the boughs of a timeless oak, a grizzly utters a sombre prophecy while leisurely scratching her back against a tree, her cub joining her in the act. In a poem titled “Leisure, Pleasure & Impending Doom…,” we hear the lament of the wild, a voice that speaks of dwindling numbers and a fading wilderness.

The poem contrasts the simple pleasures of nature with the destructive tendencies of humanity, painting a stark picture of a world on the brink.

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Scratching our backs against the old oak tree,
It’s a pleasure known to us bears since eternity,
Scratch away, these are the little pleasures,
Let us enjoy it in equal measure.

Humans know little of nature,
They rip it apart for their pleasure,
Trample and rip apart Mother Earth like devils on the rampage,
Know not respect for Gaia, our mother, she who gives us life.

She nurtures us… feeds us… I must express umbrage,
Our numbers are falling, The Lord is calling,
These so-called civilized, educated humans have been our falling,
Partake of nature’s bounty while we can.

We may be the last remaining members of our clan,
The humans are going to be the world’s bane,
Dream and move on to other planets or so they claim,
But will they ever realize that if they do not radically mend their ways,

The other planets they move to will be reduced
To the current state of Mother Earth,
In a matter of centuries if not days.

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