For Rick Park, in memoriam: a vilanelle
The Earth looks on with burning eyes As into chaos, death and dark Her children break from Paradise
While hungry planes transect the skies Her heedless children speed and park The Earth looks on with burning eyes
As prophets mew their futile cries In empty theatres, spurned and stark Her children flee from Paradise
Though ice worlds melt, and oceans rise While drones and missiles seek their mark The earth looks on with burning eyes
As Empire strives to vandalize The moral curve of King’s great arc Earths children break from Paradise
And children wave their soft goodbyes As other species disembark Our Earth looks on with burning eyes Her children gone from Paradise.
This article appears in Flash Fiction 2018.