Doom Sayer

For the (fictional) series, "Edges"
Her Voice 


Doom Sayer

If, in a moment of clarity, coupled with hope

and added daring, I find my voice, and if

it's the true one, wrenched from deep –

what a royal dressing-down I might give 

the recalcitrant world, en masse,

for its peccadillos and foibles ... its crimes.

They seem so innocent, yet little by little 

that thread becomes a rope we hoist

with a noose on the end. (Oh, yes, we know

"joy is fleeting" but this is ridiculous.)

We dangle it over a branch for ourselves

and many others. Cunning suicides, we foil

those who would be rescuers ... that is,

collectively we do, though some of us still loiter

by the silent spring and wring our hands

and shout: "That goitre was unnecessary.

That cancer had a cause, don't you see?

You could have avoided that lingering death!"

We could have. But the clock ticks; voices raised

go unheard or dismissed. That kick to the groin

or the guts has got you, man. Die now!

Note: "The Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson was probably the first book to warn of the terrible damage we were doing to our environment even back then, when it was first published, in 1962 – at any rate, the first voice that was widely heard.

(Though in the voice of one of the fictional characters in this series of poems – which differs from my own voice – still, fictions have elements of truth and this one comes nearest, so far, to being autobiographical.)

Written a bit late for Poets United's Midweek Motif ~ Voice; I'm sharing it instead at Poetry Pantry #392