Abstract
Duty is an abstraction
reality something else
It requires open eyes
a vision without frontiers
a heart of kindness, acceptance
of nature’s prevalence
not some token paradise
where we are an aberration
*
20,000 cormorants are too many
‘they’re eating all the fish’
Seven billion humans
are sustainable, though
not everyone has enough food
poem © copyright dfbarker 2012
***image © copyright Neil Smith
Ciscography 
ugh…the ending made me swallow hard…isn’t it a shame that we don’t manage to divide the food that we have on this planet fair…?
It requires open eyes
a vision without frontiers… this is just so true.. and often we don’t have it..
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Hi,
So very true. 🙂
Very well thought out.
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Hi David
A very good poem again.
Wildlife has a real problem with us people I think. Here they shoot down wild geese because they eat grass seed, They also gas them.
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Thank you Ina. Very sad, what they do to geese and other creatures.
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Thank you Sir. And yes you are right.
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Thank you Claudia!
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Thank you Mags!
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Ahh, the wisdom of the artist!
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Brilliant perspective, thanks David!
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Very good indeed. Reminded me of Gary Snyder’s “Cormorant.”
Jamie Dedes
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Jamie, I’m very grateful, thank you.
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David, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. Here they shoot sea lions (because they eat our salmon) and I could go on and on…. People think nothing of stepping on a spider, throwing trash into the sea…. We interfere with nature and its own wise ecology, while we overpopulate the planet and hog all the resources, and chop down the trees (they’re in the way of shopping malls)…. Thank you for this poem – it speaks volumes! (And now I’ll step carefully off my soapbox. 🙂 )
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Oh, thanks Betty! You stay right on that soapbox and I’ll listen all day and night. Humans are supposed to be intelligent… I don’t see much evidence of it. 🙂 All the very best, Betty!
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Oh we are not just messing with the wild life we have successfully messed up ours too..unequal distribution, where some have abundant and others dying of malnutrition…
what a powerful poem David..kudos for handling it so well.
David I have nominated you for Beautiful Blogger and Very Inspiring Blogger Award
If you choose to accept the awards please click the link to know more.
have a great day 🙂
http://somkritya.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/beautiful-blog-and-very-inspiring-blog-award/
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Soma, once again thank you so much for your comments and I am honoured that you have nominated me. Thank you!
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Thank you again, Laurel.
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It always depends on who is the judge when saying what or who is “too many”. Sadly, it’s us and history shows or very bad record. Loved it!
Steph
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Thank you very much, Steph!
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Well said, David. We must accept that every choice we make regarding nature has consequences for the planet and ALL of its inhabitants. A question that has stayed with me ever since I read it: “When you throw something away, what does ‘away’ mean?”
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“open eyes
a vision without frontiers
a heart of kindness, acceptance
of nature’s prevalence
not some token paradise
where we are an aberration”–WOW, so powerful and so very true! Thank you and bless you for this forthright poem today!
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Very moving!
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So much truth in your words David, the ending really hits home too…
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Granbee, thank you very much, once again.
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A sad truth…we must awaken to such matters, not only offer solutions but make them so 😀
Beautiful xx
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Yes, I agree, mankind’s domination of earth must end. We must co-exist with all fauna and flora. Thank you
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As with Betty, this is a subject I feel very strongly about too!
‘acceptance
of nature’s prevalence
not some token paradise
where we are an aberration’
That is so powerful, David! And the second stanza speaks a truth that so needs to spoken!
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Thank you so much! Yes, there’s no getting away from it, if aliens are watching us, and they have sorted out their own rapacious natures (they must’ve done otherwise they wouldn’t still exist!), they would be looking at us as if we were a disease. Presumably, though, they would surely teach us how to co-exist with nature and not obliterate it.
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