Embers

We have been left the embers
of a fire
for us to burn.
We have been left to create
future generations
who will never see snow.
We have been left with a circumstance
that is the doing of our ancestors
who believed their actions 
would not have consequences.
(Our actions have consequences.)
We are left with an imaginary clock
ticking off the time
until we can no longer thrive on our planet.
Is that what we want?
Is it?
Do we truly want to envision a future
where we hurt our Earth
enough for it to hurt us too?
It's already doing that
in the form of devastating floods
and ravaging wildfires
and even the little things
that go unnoticed
like 70-degree days
in a New England November.
Our ancestors weren't good to us
and we won't be good to our descendants
who may go through unimaginable terrors 
or,
far in the future,
never be alive at all.
But there is time
to turn things around--
not completely,
but we can
try
give it a chance
to save our future selves
our future families
and everyone else.
We can't fix everything,
but we will do what we can
with the dying embers
of the past's burning flame.

"When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money."
-Cree Prophecy