Warming Warning

Inhale crispy, fresh air.
Feel the warm sun on your skin.
Taste the sweetness
Of the succulent oxygen.
Listen to the birds
Chirping merrily in the air.
Look at the lush, green meadows
Stretching over acres
Of rich chocolate brown soil.
Lift your eyes towards the glorious welkin.

Inhale humid, stale air.
Feel the sultry smog linger on your skin.
Taste the beads of sweat
Rolling off your forehead.
Listen. A silence. Deafeningly loud.
Look at the prickly tan fields of dry grass 
Surrounding drought-ravaged land.
Squint into the flaring hot sun,
Muffled by a haze of thick, unfriendly smoke.