Last night
While you were sleeping
Snug in the walls of your own existence
A link in the survival of the world
Played out in the skies above you.
Millions of migrating birds, with moonlight on their wings,
Flew over thousands of miles
From the darkness of the astronomical twilight into the night,
Following the celestial patterns of the night sky
And the heartbeat of the Earth.
A lifelong ritual, returning them to their beginnings,
Not just for their own survival
But the survival of the species, the survival of the Earth.
All this while you lay snugly confined
In the walls of your own existence
Lost from your connection which has been eroded by the loss of darkness
And deaf to the heartbeat of the Earth.
And last night
While you were sleeping
60 freight cars full of tar sands
Crept through your town
And millions of gallons of crude oil
Glided across your oceans.
Abby Armstrong, Harpswell Neck
