Howling for Life – a poem by Nasreen Pejvack
The moon facing me, gazing at me, dazzling me,
The moon and I were part of a mass,
Within a huge ring of multitudes, you know,
Birthings from the mass began to shape and engaged us in reactions,
Movements of dust and rocks wriggled about the gloom,
I was born in my cradle, in a horde of entities,
The life I had was darkness, cold, surrounded with matters I didn’t know,
That was all out there, still is, you know,
Explosions here and there,
We expanded, shifted and moved about,
That was all out there, and still is,
I desired to be what I am today, different from that mayhem,
Longing to produce life, grow and transform,
Darkness and cold was out there, still is, you know,
Eventually, clusters of us alienated from Mother Bedlam,
Fell into this magnificent order,
We initiated our own loop of events,
Force of our Sun shaped us,
We lined up and started a new harmonization,
Magnum opus, the Sun, pulled and pushed us into order,
We lined up to form, and danced riotously ever since,
Force of our Sun wrought us,
We commenced a new order,
Tossed into the warmth of magnificent Sun,
Giving me the heat I needed to re-create,
Hot and boiling in the core,
I spat out my blood for years, and years,
Torrential down pour on my chest for thousands more years,
Only to cool-it-down for new life to begin,
Time was so slow,
Yet, I was so full of hope,
I desired entities that would help it grow,
They would make it more beautiful, I hoped!
It took me millions of years to cultivate water,
Forest and air to breathe,
My vast blue ocean nurtured the first life,
Hosted all kinds of beings in its heart,
My forests gave more breathing room,
Became home to even more lives,
With shaking, trembling and quaking on my surface,
I developed splendid mountains,
Ahh, aren’t they rather majestic?
My rivers flowed from the mountains and joined the oceans,
Life thrived all over my skin,
And all manner of creatures helped it grow,
The birds flew around and spread the seeds,
Then grew vast diverse animals,
Learning and evolving,
Then came along my evolved humanoid,
Thereafter my human,
It took me a long time to enliven this ball-of-lava,
My resplendent chest became an absolute loveliness,
Yet,
In such a short time, my human ruined it all,
My sapiens grew to be the smartest of my children,
Yet,
To have the most destructive natures,
Some of my children became the thinkers,
Learners, creators and builders,
Though most of them grew to be:
Selfish, arrogant, and careless,
It took me billions of years to change and re-arrange,
Give them a taste of beauty,
The breeze through singing forest,
The depth of blue sea and its vast life,
The peaks of mountains, and the running rivers,
So they have stories to tell, and poems to write,
Except,
Ever since my children grew smarter,
They created all kinds of killing kits,
My face, my chest, my belly became a battle ground,
Dominance fell into the hands of greediness and bullies,
And now my belt is heavy and feeling out of place,
Billions of feet stamping on me,
Thousands of drills piercing me,
Craters in my chest, as bombs are tossed about,
Destroying everything I built,
Kills many of my children,
Destroys my vegetation,
Contaminates the air I have created to help it grow,
They began a chain of destruction of all,
Greeneries, the life in my oceans,
Extracting any treasures in my belly,
Anything to feed their egos,
And I thought they are the smartest of all my beings,
My little humanoid, the sapiens,
Think they know everything,
They are big and powerful,
To me, those who think so shallowly,
Are nothing but the embodiment of ignorance,
Question yourself my children,
Listen to the voice within you,
Do you think you are blameless?
Some of you err by deliberate choices,
Some, weak or ignorant or cynical,
Some only value their own ideas,
Some are the idols of greed in the temples,
Some thrive with their adventurous souls, for change,
Except,
Bullies never let the greed rest,
Smart ones, the thinkers, challenge them,
Except,
My children are not united, all across my surface,
They have segmented me with many borders,
Borders created wars and hatreds,
Fighting for a bigger piece of me,
Killing for land to increase wealth,
As they found treasures in my heart,
My surface, my other creations,
Plunged into the abyss of suffering,
More greed, thereafter, more wars,
Wars even about who is better,
If I am the mother of all, I remember well,
Amongst my creatures, who roams my forests,
Climbs my mountains and passes through my oceans,
Birds, those fly all across and around me,
I only sprouted one human race,
Except,
Some think they are different and superior,
Aren’t they oblivious to their own ignorance?
Though, I believe in some of my humans,
The ones that know the mistakes made,
The ones who want to change, and know how to change,
But;
The struggle is too hard and they are not untied all across me,
Remember my children:
I have given you life,
I rained-down on my bare hot surface,
Flourished life, made it possible to grow,
I gave you all you needed,
But;
All is evaporating in madness, darkness,
Hunger and wars you have created,
Pain and suffering you brought upon each other,
Yet,
None-see-their own fault,
None-see-they are the cause of many problems,
Well my children:
The moon still faces me, gazing at me, dazzling me,
I am still part of the same mass,
I was a lava rock, I will survive,
I will surely re-grow-life-again and flourish my bare chest once again,
But the question is: Will you?
Nasreen Pejvack — April, 2014