Next Time
by Graeme King
When man is gone and wiped from history’s pages
the Earth will still revolve around the Sun,
and start anew, evolving through the ages
repairing all the damage we have done.
As evolution starts another stanza,
as microdots of life form into seeds,
will humans be regarded as a cancer
and bypassed as a payment for our deeds?
Imagine planet Earth without pollution,
and picture every species running free,
no forests laid to waste in destitution,
with crystal air and effervescent sea.
No creatures slaughtered blindly by the greedy,
no skies of lead and cloudy overcast,
a Paradise where nothing would be needy,
an Eden where the time of Man is past.
The Earth will wait, and sand will turn to granite,
the time will come when man pays for his crime,
we had our chance, and chose to harm our planet,
will humankind be overlooked next time?
the Earth will still revolve around the Sun,
and start anew, evolving through the ages
repairing all the damage we have done.
As evolution starts another stanza,
as microdots of life form into seeds,
will humans be regarded as a cancer
and bypassed as a payment for our deeds?
Imagine planet Earth without pollution,
and picture every species running free,
no forests laid to waste in destitution,
with crystal air and effervescent sea.
No creatures slaughtered blindly by the greedy,
no skies of lead and cloudy overcast,
a Paradise where nothing would be needy,
an Eden where the time of Man is past.
The Earth will wait, and sand will turn to granite,
the time will come when man pays for his crime,
we had our chance, and chose to harm our planet,
will humankind be overlooked next time?
Analysis:
Next Time is an alternating quatrain that was written by Graeme King. This poem is about how we have treated the planet we live on. This is shown in the line, ‘repairing all the damage we have done.’ The poet then goes on to say, ‘Imagine planet Earth without pollution’ this makes the reader realize that it really is our fault. We are the ones that made this planet like this. This poet is trying to make everyone understand that we are destroying the very planet we live on and that it needs to change. This concept is emphasized with the line, ‘we had our chance, and chose to harm our planet’. The tone of this poem is obviously somber, although it does change slightly because of the word choice in the line, ‘As evolution starts another stanza’. The word ‘stanza’ made that line somewhat humorous because it is being used in a poem with several stanzas. I think this quatrain is an admirable interpretation of what the earth would be like if mankind never existed. It is a very sad indictment of what we have done to the planet so far.
