Birth Rights

A look at our certain future!

Granddaughter Payton

Wheat fields wave across the meadow

bright yellow 'neath a sky of blue

Beautiful swaths of sun bleached straw

cut down long before their due

So like the children of our city

colored yellow, red, brown and gold

Living out their lives in dog years

struck down long before they're old

This sickness flows through our land

leaving the helpless and despaired

Where all are made to be thrown out

none are saved or even repaired

When the silent spring finally comes

and all the birds are in a museum

We'll sell our birthright for a song

so children can pay to see them

Then all the beauty will be gone

as our grandchildren run out to play

Not under blue or 'cross the green

but in the trash from yesterday

Written August 13, 2009

All rights reserved

Author's Note

At the rate we are going we are sadly destined as a race for a dry, dusty, polluted, future. Devoid of beauty, music, children or hope!.

Reviews

[AprilRN1210]

you are by far, one of the most talented writers I have had the pleasure to meet.. I absolutely love this.. I love the picture, the font, color, the message, the flow, the rhythm, the imagery, each carefully selected word.. It feels light and hopeful and yet at the same time like a harsh wake up call.. nice job as always..

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you April I smiled upon reading that and felt I had accomplished what I set out to do.I am humbled and honored.

[AprilRN1210]

I am glad I could make you smile.. Your poetry always makes me FEEL.. I love the depth of emotion in which you write your meaningful pieces.. you always walk away feeling like you learned something or experienced something worthwhile... I would say it was a home run with this one sir.. You are more than welcome, my friend.. It is I, who is honored.. :)

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you my friend.

[AprilRN1210]

anytime.. I love reading your work... It is my pleasure..

[Rene Salinas]

Man Tate what a mix! brough me back to a lesson once had when I was attempting to learn how to play guitar and the teacher un-tuned the guitar look down tuned to his own thing and then he said play!
I just read your writing and maybe is just me but you managed to interweave the innoncense and beauty, nature dependent and very much connected of the child years with decay, decomposition, pollution, determinism and a hint of apocalypse. And back to my original metaphor you just picked the guitar and played. And the old saying you can't add apples with pears it does not hold here as there is a unity albeit an opposing one as both intentions cannot coexsist. At least in my mind maybe because I suffer from hopeless idealism syndrome I kept the essence of the infant anyday.

What an intriguing reading.

Thankyou so much

[Frieda P]

Holy, I wasn't expecting that ending Tate, you're getting down with your gritty self. I think this is my favorite of yours. Excellent message within your outstanding verse! Bravo on you for taking a stand. Love the music too....

[Tate Morgan]

Thanks hon it is with trepidation and despair I report the slow passing of the human race. What will come after us I know not. But one thing for sure we dont deserve the gifts we have.

[Frieda P]

Somehow I think every generation has made that statement Tate, although it is really out of control, but hopefully our kids and theirs will turn it around...

[Tate Morgan]

I wish we have too many people for the world to support

[Frieda P]

Nothing can be done about that, it's after the fact, we need to find a new planet quick, earth-like soil was spotted on Mars....

[Dayran]

A harvest of grapes ... even when put to the feet ... yields wine. There's a silver lining in every cloud. A timely reminder ...

[Tate Morgan]

I can always count on you to see the silver lining of life i wish I could I really do ,. Thanks sri

[Einstein Noodle]

our hope is that your poem is not prophetic .. we can listen to its warning and do what we can .. in the small worlds around us .. your poems "trash" also makes me think of the cesspool of debt we are so irresponsibly "..kicking down the road" ... not only pulling the rug but cutting the legs off our children and their children ... aiyiyi seems overwhelming ..your poem has impacted me Tate .. i live in a small town, six blocks from everywhere .. giving up the car to make trips to the lumber yard, small engine repair shop, post office and bank .. (all 2 blocks away) .. i should make that 6 blocks and walk to the gym, dollar store and the gas station that carries my favorite beer .. :)
love ya bro!
E.

[Tate Morgan]

I have come to believe it is . I see no reason for our divine right to reproduce till we hold sway from pole to pole. we have seen the best our grandchildren shall inherit the rest.thanks friend

[Einstein Noodle]

:{
blessings to you and yours

[Tate Morgan]

Thanks man

[Einstein Noodle]

you changed the name!! i like it ;)))

[Tate Morgan]

yeah seemed fitting as of todays news

[Einstein Noodle]

great day to ya brother! impressive video as well .. i don't remember it in your initial posting ..very somber and fitting for your poem

[Tate Morgan]

thank you Gene I am a leftist democrat who wants to see the parties push to their respective sides not the middle

[Einstein Noodle]

i would agree ..get the muck out of it ..clean lines ... more confident decisions from voters .. easier for those elected to speak without the "forked tongue" ...maybe??? :{

[Avinash]

I completely agree with your views Tate. We are destroying every gift of nature, losing all our senses and that too in the name of development.

[Tate Morgan]

One day we will tell our children of wild animals and clean air and they will look at us in disbelief. Thank you

[A. Amos]

Thanks for spreading awareness and reminding the world their one simple responsibility, if we can fix the man in the mirror I think we have done our part. I honestly feel sorry for the new generation they have nothing exciting...even music they are stuck with Justin Beiber, no icon to follow, all on their mind you find is material things. Nature is a free God gift and the true beauty of the world, Well done my friend!

[Tate Morgan]

Amos thank you I was a child of the 60s and remember well the introduction of earth day the conscious efforts to go back to a simpler time. I sadly report to you that it has had little effect. We as a species keep building ever outward and claiming divine right to reproduce. Ours is a future devoid of pity as we do not deserve it .Thank you

[J. K. Beach]

Tate--It is a sad commentary on the state of our society that we still should need to be reminded of things like this--even though you've done it in such a lovely way. It's been 52 years since Rachel Carson first published 'Silent Spring' (she would probably smile at your reference) and still we don't get it. Always baby steps... never that giant leap for mankind! (Sorry, got carried away...) You have done your part splendidly... laying it all on the line, painting a map a child could follow if only we would let them... Excellent piece... thanks for re-posting this!

[Tate Morgan]

thank you I remember that book well. And as a young boy of the 60s I remember black birds in a corn field so numerous that when they took off they blackened the sky Yet for years we continued to kill the birds till they had all but disappeared I see small pieces of hope here and there but we will surely kill this earth and ourselves I am of the mind we are way too selfish to stop now

[kublakhan27]

To say that you have a way with words is a vast understatement Tate...this is a devastating commentary, delivered in a way that only a true wordsmith can deliver it. Forget all the scientific studies and academic essays, this is what should be taught in school. The imagery is just so graphic and subtle at once. I'm still in the process of getting acquainted with your work, but I already look up to your penchant for rhyme and rhythm and flow, devices I always try to incorporate into my work, even though much of it is free verse. But these things come across so naturally and effortlessly in your work that they become secondary against the backdrop of your message, which I say in a complimentary way. Yes, you do have a way with words my friend.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Kahn I cant never believe the length of some of your reviews they are well executed well done thank you

[Ian Gilmour]

This is a really interesting take on legacy, what it means, how it comes to mean something only with the passing of time. It's an interesting paradox, we're defined not by what we are currently doing, but by what we did. A dark paradox; your poem encapsulates that well. Good write.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you ian It is not only what we did but what we do to this day we fish the seas dry level mountains to build land clear cut forests to fuel Our desires for new and better We build our cities further and further out letting the middle die and turn to slums. We are the problem

[Matching Socks]

Reality check...
It's our responsibility to teach our children about respecting our earth and all that we share it with.
Or we'll lose it...

[Tate Morgan]

Yes it is However all our media does is tell them they need to work harder get further in debt and buy new tennis shoes. Thank you Bombarded by these messages day in and out they dont stand a chance

[Matching Socks]

I think it's I'm important to lay the foundation when they're young. So that they can decipher these messages intelligently later on. I'm surrounded be porn, sex, temptation but I'm only screwing my husband. They stand a chance. :-) I believe they do. Will the world end some day, yes, eventually, but I think it's life expectancy can be prolonged. :-) I'm ever the optimist... To a fault maybe.

[Tate Morgan]

I hope our attempts to educate our own dont fall short of that. However the majority of the world are not going to get these things and they will become fodder for the corporate gristmill I fear.

[Matching Socks]

Yes, I worry about all that too, we try to make a difference in our own community first, through getting involved, and getting our children involved. And I trust that there are people like us, in other communities doing the same. :-)