How old is Mother Nature?
She was once a child Herself
Newly exploded into existence
One moment space was empty
The next particles were bound
Creating not just a single planet
But an entire galaxy filled Universe. 
Billions of years ago She exhaled
All of life in just one breath
Calling the universe to emerge
Her adolescent years were
Filled with gas and primordial ooze
Life forms taking shape slowly
Sculpted from rock and clay.
Her teen years saw creativity
Flying fish and giant mammals
And from her soil vegetation
To feed these new hungry lives
Emerging from dense fog lifting
To reveal forms of bacteria
Blanketing Her young body.
Her brilliance knew no bounds
A swift billion years passed
She coaxed fish from water
To breathe air and sunshine
Designed wings to fly higher
Managed moving parts fingers
Toes then music, a miracle!
And Mother Nature rested
She observed Her creation
Marveling at what time allowed
Having given birth to a world
Vibrating with rhythm and sound
Look there! Evolution has begun
She exhaled and life exploded.
Mother Nature was happy
Even when the four leggeds
Rose up on two legs
Even when they took up clubs
And fought to kill each other
Growing pains, She thought
Her pains were theirs as well.
In time the Earth populated
The two leggeds flourished
They took, burned, polluted
They tore her flesh in hunger
Her only defense was the virus
But two leggeds found a cure
And Mother Nature cried out.
Other species heard Her cry
In the face of their own slaughter
Brutal mayhem was unleashed
Her Earth body shifted, changed
Robbed of precious resources
Her life ebbed away, depleted
And something deep shifted again.
Mother Nature moved into stillness
A time of age to pause and wonder
Her temperature began to fluctuate
Pulse fast and slow, hot then cold
Cold then hot with no warning
Uncontrollable internal movement
Her foundations violently shaking.
The two leggeds debated angrily
What to do with our sick Mother?
She is now no longer of use to us
We want a future beyond the stars
And Mother Nature looked closely
Upon her spoiled, greedy children
And saw the truth of their disease.
Decline was coming too soon
Another billion years was needed
Even more to evolve Her creation
But the two leggeds would not stop
Poisoning Her veins, Her soil
Her rivers, Her oceans, Her air,
Her death felt but a generation away.
As Her body convulsed in spasms
Temperature rising higher, higher
Master Sun showed no mercy
Even as She asked for compassion
In the prime of his life, rays unshielded
Master Sun flared at the galaxies center
Blistering Mother Earth with his fire.
The two leggeds prepared to leave
In deep space they’d found a planet
Why stay on this dying Earth when
Light years away possibility beckoned
They sent the most daring, courageous
Men, women, children, babies asleep
Dreaming a destination light years away.
Stay, work to make me whole again
But they could not stop the destruction
Would not sacrifice their addictions
Overwhelmed, dying from toxic waste
There were those who tried to change
There were those who continued to pollute
Most were those who just did not care.
Time passed, preparations were made
Rocket ships lifted off into deep space
And left to renew and heal Her self
To wash Her oceans of human filth
To drain the chemicals from Her soil
She knew only time would renew life
She exhaled and prepared for their return.
DELIA QUIGLEY 