CANADA

javanut@sprint.ca

In Lieu of Rent...

Millennia unpaid
Belated,
Long, long overdue
 we waited and waited
'til no chance to renew.
The lease is up...
in one celestial hiccup
so we dine with our wine
 feasting on waste,
so strategically laid
in consumptive haste

And while, 
broken checks pernicious
bouncing,
piercing stratospheric crust
 chlorofluorocarbons vicious,
most virile
in Antarctic August,
ignite like flame
the glacial wails,
 salted tales
a poisoned past
swelling oceans, 
drowning rats

Since One was 
left to walk this land
 As protectorate, 
 Its guardian grand
 Everywhere 
a hand
 Everywhere
a head
nestled frozen 
 in dense glacial sand 

And as it warms,
he emerges into light
thawed, 
awed, 
slightly dumber,
but still with his sight
and realizing his plight, 
the wanton commandeer, 
chooses ignorance
refusing to hear

For this Cardinal Sin
of Paradise Destroyed
Humanity's eviction
proclaimed with conviction:
He is divinely annoyed.
So, 
Forget the rent.
Payment will come
 in judgement.

© Copyright, 2000, Iain J. Steinberg.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.