Mankind

We call ourselves mankind
Like its a medal - something we conquered
We arrived, standing among the trees and the ground and the sky
At first in peace, then in greed
Somehow believing we were eternal
Our being took and conquered and fought and claimed
Grown children cradling guns as their words and power as their treasure
Then we claimed to be kind, trying to save what we destroyed
The trees didn’t fight nor yell or hit or draw guns
The trees just remained
As they did before
As they will after
We still believe we are eternal
Will we ever realise we are just a passing
We are the endangered species
yet roots reaching into the earth
The humble stretch toward the sky
The quiet existence that knows no time
That is eternal
Man-kind suddenly doesn’t seem so kind after all