Villanelle for what we have lost

When I consider what we have lost

And what we will lose in times to come,

I struggle to comprehend the cost

We will pay: a certain species of moss,

A number of trees. My mind starts to thrum

When I consider what we have lost.

And the losses keep mounting, we have tossed

Our possible futures aside, making us numb

As we struggle to understand the cost

To the environment. The line we have crossed

Cannot be stepped back over, we need some

Consideration of what we have lost.

If we are to imagine a way out of this holocaust

Of the natural world. The warning drum–

Beat begs us to decipher the cost,

But time is running short, we must accost

Those responsible to silence the hum

In our heads as we consider what’s been lost

And struggle once more to grasp the cost.