When Rainforests Rage

Jenny Mae Albinio

When will they realize they’ve made you extinct,
our timbered rain tree? 
When will they recognize your significance
in preserving the equilibrium of biodiversity?
Soldiers of wood and leaves standing between
Humanity and impending calamity? 

When will they realize the devastations among rare species
Left cold and homeless, with their sanctuaries violated, stolen
– Replaced by boxes of concrete, a modern-day prison,
a tomb of misguided progress standing above
the scene of the crime, a silent reminder of man’s
constant maltreatment of the only home he’ll ever have? 

When earth crumbles and falls, when rainwater endlessly flows,
the magnificent shield of roots underneath – gone,
renders us helpless and at the mercy of the forests’ cry for
help and justice, the raging revenge of nature, long overdue.