- Earth's Man -
I own the trees so I cut them down,
To build my house on fields brown.
I own the fields so I plough them dry,
To plant my crops beneath the sky.
I own the sky, I care not if life there withers,
For yet I have my ancient rivers.
I own the waters; I may poison them at will,
And fish them barren, I have the forests still.
But the last tree has fallen, just desert sand,
A home without a garden, no beautiful land.
The fields are barren, no crops will grow,
Though my hunger grows, of that I know.
And there is no air left to breathe, no breath left in me,
The rivers run dry, for rain I make plea.
Dying here, I see, I cannot own the place of my birth,
It does not belong to me; I belong to the Earth.
Salman Shaheen
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