Ode to the No Longer Active

We read in the news today
The planet’s melting down
Thinking of children
Running in the park
We thought of you.
We saw pictures
Of endless acres groaning
Dead diseased trees
As far as the eye could see
And thought of you.
We thought of you
When the penguins ran out of food
They had to travel so far
From cleaving ice shelves
Their babies starved
Waiting for the return
We wondered if your babies
Ate today.
We wondered if your support group
Shared cake and pain.
If you’d drive home
As the last of some doomed species
Withered away
Placing a candle on your endangered table
As the water table drops
And the lawn sprinkler spins
And the Sun bore down
On the best of your intentions.
We thought of empty streets
The times we didn’t see you
Standing in the rain
Demanding change, protection
From terrorists in $3,000 suits
Erasing the constitution
Taking names, torturing reality.
We held a place for you
But you were busy
You've been so busy lately.