Will there ever be a time
When there will not be advertising popping up in faces or
Filling our ears with their earworm tunes?
Will there ever be a time
When we will be rid of plastic – molecules of which linger in our bodies
As well as our bodies of water?
Will there ever be a time
When we decide to rid ourselves of nuclear weapons?
Will there ever be a time
When we aren’t being watched by a machine?
Will there ever be a time
When we’re not surrounded by the same monopolies – Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix?
Will there ever not be commercials for KFC or Nike or Apple?
Will there ever be less Prozac, less Wellbutrin, less Invega?
Will there ever be less child abuse, less drug abuse?
Will there ever be more literacy rather than less?
Will there ever be a time
When people became citizens in a community
Rather than cynically voting for candidates that are obviously unfit?
Will there ever be a time
When there is more abundant life,
A more robust sea each year than the year before?
More whales, more fish, more phytoplankton, more corral?
Will there ever be less dams, less pesticides, less deforestation?
Will there ever be a time
When there is less carbon particulates in the air than the year before?
Will there ever be a time
When we think of ourselves as a we
rather than an us and them (or it)?
Will there ever be a time when we see nature in its living vital essence
Rather than mere scenery for a human adventure?
Will there ever be a time
When we think of small as beautiful and sustainable as good?
Will there ever be a time when we can lovingly recognize limitations?
Will there ever?
A Fragile Dignity 