Daffodils No More

[Angela]

Daffodils No More

by Gorden J.L. Ramel..... "with due praise to W. Wordsworth"

I wandered lonely as a crowd
that floats down streets and avenues
my spirit darkened by a cloud
of toubles I could not refuse,
for I had looked for daffodils
and found but few in England's hills.

For butterflies, for birds I sought,
for all of nature's finest gems
that I had long ago been taught
bedecked the Pennines and the Thames,
caressed our valleys, blessed our moors
and danced by thousands on our shores

But what I found was barbed-wire fence
protecting repetitious fields
that offered up in self defense
statistics on their better yields
with ne'er a thought towards the cost;
that fragile beauty we have lost.

A poet could not help but sigh
on seeing how the world is changed
and ask himself, or God on high,
why humankind is so deranged
it can destroy, for such poor ends,
the world on which its life depends.

[cliffhbuber]

How marvellous a poem!! very poignant of the changes in society, and societal values, especially over the last 200 years.
In spite of the fact that millions are living in more suitable housing and healthier conditions, widespread education and universal travel, there is a disconnect with the human soul and nature with the paving over of fields and forest.
What to do with so many people amidst the rush to the accumulation of material goods?
One can easily argue that technology and education have improved the lot of many since medieval times, but is the trade-off too great a loss?

[trinkie]

Why did they knock down the trees, Daddy ?
by Colin Thiele.

It's a question of standards boy; standards of living,
It's cars, you see, that give us a high level of living -
help, so to speak, to set the thing in motion -
and if they also give us a high level of dying
that's incidental, a fringe benefit, a lottery
likely to hand out unexpected promotion.

Without cars, let's face it, a nation is under-developed,
And these days it's bad to be under-developed in anything
at all -
Bust, thighs, muscles, sex or ego,
it's a competitive world, son.

The trees? Oh well, they have to go
on the advice of Big Brother
so that the cars can have a better chance
of hitting one another.