Our planet has a fever

Our planet has a fever,
an infection from greed and ignorance
is spreading like a plague far worse
than when rats infested Europe's towns.

Our world is nauseous from the toxic air
that fills the atmosphere with its bad breath
and vomits vicious hurricanes Into the sky
and brutal rains that won’t stop coming.

Damn, it's hard to see this lovely earth,
the mother of us all,
infected, its fever getting higher,
rivers flooding cities like never before,
rising seas taking back the shore,
people running from their burning homes.
leaving photographs and memories behind.

What is there to say to our children
who won't know the cool summer nights
or crisp autumn mornings we remember?
What will they think of us
when they read of other times
and ask how could you let this happen
to our planet?

I don't know what to say or do
to take away this ache and ask
is it too late to cure our fevered world,
slow down the pestilence of greed,
stop wanting more and more than is needed,
learn to live a simple life,
find a way to make our children's lives
less harsh before it's too late.

It's not knowing what will be
when worse convulsions come,
and our children and theirs are living
with extremes of heat and droughts,
fires and floods, tornadoes and hurricanes
like none known before.
It's this that breaks my heart
and knows it didn't have to be this way. 

— Arnold Greenberg