Mechanical Miracles

may appear to inspire belief,
but appearances deceive.

When something mechanical
does what it should,
when it saves human effort,
relieves human pain,
all whilst saving the planet,
we should be more than thankful. 

When we let the mechanics
of what we live through
dictate how we should live
we become the anti-miracle,
the alchemy in reverse,
where, in lock-step with the machines
that we make and we depend upon,
we make narratives in where we detach
ourselves ever further
from the cycles of nature
until the miracle of mortality,
that no machine can stop, reclaims us.    

Imbalance

All the gratitude in the world,
as shown by all forms of life
that have ever occupied the earth, combined,
would never be enough
to outweigh all the humbug of humankind.

The Quieter Way To Sterilise Nature

Forget Chernobyl, on English motorways
and A roads where thousands of trees line the banks
to make the rapid passage of traffic seem sociable.
The foliage reduces the air and noise pollution,
But however carefully anyone tries to see any wildlife,
as they pass, there will be none there.
All the birds within five miles either side
of the 50,000 miles of Britain's busiest roads
cannot hear each other's song.
Where they cannot hear they cannot court,
and they will not mate or nest,
so instead they have to retreat to quieter places.