A wall of cloud in the east
flanked the enterprise of men
all afternoon, the comings
and goings, the north and south
of motors and the burning
until it ends, until we end,
mining the ground and the air,
the water and the light,
getting and spending until
we have no place to stand.
We have grown too big,
we are too many,
too much for the earth
and for each other.
We cannot say why we see
the wall of cloud as a plea
to guard the earth
except that we must.
