A CRY FROM THE ENVIRONMENT

POEM

LAMENTATION FROM THE ENVIRONMENT

BY

W. C. AGUGUA

I was created before man was made. The Lord God made  man to take proper care of me, while I nourish them, so we are supposed to have mutual love for each other just like husband and wife but how man’s hatred grew against me, that I do not understand. They mis-father and maltreat me so much. They make me look dirty and ugly in the face of their kind, yet I endured but they never stop.

See how they hate me!

I watched them sneezed, vomit and defecate on me, they open their wide mouth and yawned, coughed and spat on me, releasing millions of micro-organisms into my body and I became sick without any doctor to take proper care of me but they have doctors who take care of them. I manage to get self help but they keep polluting me.

See how they hate me!

They gossip me in their various hostels, cars, offices, homes and even on the streets. Some said that I emit offensive odor, another group said that I look tattered like a mad woman while others said that I keep my body unaesthetic. Their ignorance has blind folded their knowledge. If only they had tamed me well, they would have seen how beautiful I look.

See how they hate me!

You see how they injected teargas into my eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin; they said its industrial, transportation and agricultural activities. Now, I am blind, deaf and dumb. My systems are weak, my life span is short. Man must surely suffer from the miasma of pollution which they have caused and imposed on me.

See how they hate me!

I supply man with water, fruits, meats, vegetables, and oxygen for their nourishment, health and wealth but they refuse my children a common blood meal.

See how they hate me!

When I start producing new offspring by weathering, they call me earthquake, volcanic eruption or soil erosion. When I supply them with adequate water on their demand, they call me flood. When they feel hot or heat and I provide them with one of my kind, they call me tsunami, tornado or hurricane. When they are tortured with cold or pneumonia and I gave them the sun, they shouted “ozone layer depletion” and I ask; who depleted my layer? Is it not man? Again, when I laugh and blink my eyes in my moment of ecstasy, they will call me thunder and lightning.

See how they hate me!

My family and I were very happy when they appointed their kind to help prevent man from causing me pains. I saw them in their black and brown shoes, khaki and white, then I hurriedly went to prepare a celebration party for the relief from man but on my return, I saw them eating, drinking and partying with those who hurt me. When will man keep me sacred?

See how they hate me!